


Analyzed for the better

by gutterfortunecookie



Category: Avengers, Loki - Fandom, Marvel
Genre: Angst, Clone Sex, F/M, Gen, Genital Piercing, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Injury Recovery, Kidnapping, Magical Tattoos, Marriage Proposal, Medical Procedures, Memories, Oral Sex, Possession, Post-Battle of New York (Marvel), Pregnancy, Sex Slave, Sex Toys, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Strangulation, Survival, Tumor, dismembered bodies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-05-26 19:08:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 41,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6251980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gutterfortunecookie/pseuds/gutterfortunecookie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People disappear off the streets of New York City and used in experiments by the newer ruler of Earth until one subject draws his interest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beyond the Yellow Brick road

**Author's Note:**

> This literally just happened yesterday. I'm not sure where I'll go with this one...

 

New York City.

She had never stayed long enough to take in the culture before but she was sure it had seen better days. It looked like something out of _Cloverfield_. People ran through the streets as other things were heard. There was no chaos from anyone human but from the things that weren’t, she just couldn’t explain. Glass windows in the streets shattered as inhuman screeches were heard over the sounds of people pleading for help.

A young woman crouched as tightly as she could as a set of dragged feet entered the store. When she first walked the tunnels to the island, she was told what time of day to be on the streets, when to hustle and when to hide. That’s when they came, she left her bag wherever she threw it and hid as if her life depended on it. It did. She had only seen one of them walking through the streets one day.

It was a large hideous creature that was loading dead, bloody bodies into a truck, snarling as it closed the truck and turned a corner. Now, she could hear the footsteps get closer. She willed her heartbeat to slow and her breathing to calm as she covered her mouth. She could remember the footsteps similar to her husband’s whenever she would try to run.

Survival was always something she strived for. A bang came from the back of the store as the creature banged its fist on the counter above her head. It cracked a fraction as she looked up and saw the creature’s masked face. Its grey jaw stretched as it summoned more of its kind to the back of the store. She was frozen in place as the shouts of both adults and children flooded her ears.

There was no use fighting the monsters as their vehicle was loaded and its engine roared to life. The horrific noises ceased and she listened just to be sure. There was a small clutter as a sniffle made her jump.

She emerged her hiding spot from underneath the counter as she looked around the corner store. A few people were seen in the street, hurrying to get to where they were going, able to survive this wave of the monsters.

“ _Mommy_?”

The young woman looked behind her to the little boy crying to the busted freezer door that used to be filled with fro-yo and ice. The little boy’s clothes were dirty and the front of his pants were wet.

“Hello?”

The boy turned to her for a moment and looked back to the doors, hoping that his mother was still there.

“Hey! You got a name?”

The little boy had a tan complexation from what she could tell, possibly belonging to the family that owed the store. She remembered her grandmother say that the family from this store was from Mumbai.

“Where’s mommy?”

“I don’t know. Where were you hiding?”

He sobbed, pointing to the stack of bruised paper towels that were left untouched. He cried as she took pity in him.

“Do you have family anywhere else?”

“Newark.”

“How old are you?”

“Five.”

“Wow, you seemed so much older.”

“I wet myself.”

He reduced to tears again as he covered his face. She stooped down to him and gave him a hug. The woman pulled herself away and smiled to him.

“Did you see how ugly those things were? It’s okay. What’s not okay is that you almost didn’t wet yourself. You’d be a bit uncool if you didn’t.”

“You didn’t.”

She looked down to her jeans and nodded.

“Good point.”

She looked around and reached for one of the counters underneath her as she held up two bottles of fruit juice to the boy.

“Grape or Blue Raspberry? Which is your favorite?”

“Blue.”

She cracked open the bottle and gave it to the boy to drink as she opened the other for herself, poring a bit over the front of her jeans as the boy laughed.

“See? Now my pants are wet. Now we can both be cool!”

He giggled as the woman went back for her bag.

“Do you have a name?”

“Hoppy Suresh,” said the boy before sipping more of his juice.

“That’s a nice name. I’m Lara Croft.”

“Tomb Raider?”

“Well, I’m her sister,” she lied as she opened her bag and pushed the blond hair from her face, “Do you play?”

“No, I play Fallout.”

“That’s amazing! You know what we’re going to do? We’re going to have an adventure to get you back to your family and we’re going to go across our own Capital Wasteland.”

The little boy’s eyes filled with wonder as he looked to the woman.

“Really? What about the Deathclaws, what if they get us?”

“I promise I won’t let them get you. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good. Right now, I need your help. I need you to look for food and water, a weapon anything that will help us, okay?”

The boy set off in front of the store as the woman searched up and down the aisles. There wasn’t a lot to take from the store but a few cans of food and some warm sparkling water. Beggers couldn’t be choosers but she was glad to find a can opener a few days ago.

She placed all of her things in her bag as the young boy came back with a small backpack and a metal case.

“What you got there?”

He only emptied his bag and opened the metal case showing off a revolving pistol and bullets. Her jaw dropped as she pocketed the gun and watched the boy empty papers and pencils from his sack.

“What are you doing,” she asked him.

“No more school.”

“Good point.”

She placed some of the supplies in his bag and took his hand as they looked around one final time.

“I know you may too young to understand this but we can’t stay here and I can’t leave you alone. It’s a bad world out there.”

“’Kay.”

She looked up to the register and saw a photo sitting next to a set of unused scratchers. She snatched it from the wall and gave it to the boy. He smiled as she broke open the plastic contain and pulled out the roll of scratchers.

“Let’s see if we hit the jackpot.”

He smiled as she took his hand and lead them from the store. He looked back to the store, his only home as she herself looked up to the building two floors up to the windows that belonged to her grandmother. She found her corpse settled in her bed. Her grandmother and chosen sleeping pills and red wine when the creatures began roaming the streets. There was nothing to be done now except moving forward into the twilight filled streets.

She didn’t remember the streets by name but only knew to be at the docks by the end of the day to make it onto the boats ferrying anyone alive to safety. The dock she was looking for was in the opposite direction of where she was heading but she had all the time in the world to go around Manhattan rather than spend another day scared shitless. They passed the time scratching their fortunes away. It wasn’t until the late afternoon that Hoppy pulled on her sweater sleeve.

“Lookit, lookit!”

She calmed him down so they wouldn’t draw any attention from anyone that was already in the street. She looked down to the scratcher impressed as the young boys won $1000 dollars.

“You should save that, Hoppy. That way you can build yourself a house of candy when all of this is over.”

“No. I want a home with wheels like that one movie.”

“Which one?”

“The rolling turd!”

“RV? You want to live in a rolling turd?”

“Yeah, that way I can drive everywhere!”

“Alright, I’ll hold you to take, Hoppy!”

“I’ll take you too.”

“I have other places to be, man.”

“Okay,” he pouted as he pushed the paper into his pocket.

She rolled her eyes as she helped him over the bits of concrete. They stopped with a few others as dead bodies littered the streets. Hoppy was scared as he clung to the woman.

“Do you need to pee,” she whispered.

He only shook his head as she took him into her arms and placed him in a revolving door.

“Try not to step in it.”

She kept her eyes everywhere, always alert if anything were to happen. The sun was slowly starting to fade from the top of the buildings as Hoppy pulled her sleeve again. She looked down to a piece of metal in his hand.

“Hoppy, you can’t pick up everything off the side walk you don’t know where its been.”

“Yeah huh, lookit.”

He turned the metal over as she saw the symbol of the Avengers on the side. She turned it back over, seeing the metal was a piece of shoulder armor from one of Ironman’s suits. There was no more going around the fact that whatever happened had happened. She smiled and put the armor in his pack.

“Is Ironman dead?”

“I don’t know, Hoppy.”

She wrapped a bandana around his eyes and picked him up, completely small for his age as she pushed passed the people too scared to walk down the streets to the docks. She had the hardest time as she tried to navigate around the carnage. She stopped as she felt Hoppy’s tears.

“Hoppy? Where is the bandana?”

“It fell a while ago, there’s so many…”

“Hey, hey, hey. Close your eyes! Just a few more blocks and we’ll be closer, I promise. Tell me about your rolling turd. What are you going to put on it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay, so… Tell me where are you going to take me when you get a rolling turd. Where’s the first place you’re going.”

“The Grand Canyon?”

“You gonna pee over the side?”

“No,” he laughed through his tears.

The walk took longer than she expected but she kept the boy talking as them made it past the worst part of the streets. The sun was starting to set as she pulled him along.

“Come on! We can’t miss it!”

They ran down the dock hand in hand as they found a small group of survivors. Some were crying as others had faces red with frustration.

“What happened?”

No one had to tell her as the group looked to the burning boat in the middle of the river.

“Shit,” she mumbled under her breath as she held Hoppy’s hand tighter.

“Is that the boat?”

“Yeah.”

She wiped the sweat from her head as she looked around for a place for them to sit for the night. Hoppy grew angry as he threw his bag to the ground and started kicking it.

“Hey, cut it out. That’s not going to solve anything.”

“You’re not my mommy!”

“You really want to be telling me this now! I’m trying to think of how to get us across.”

“Let’s swim!”

“That water is disgusting. If you swallow any of it, you’re going to get sick.”

“Fine. How bout there?”

He pointed to a nearby dumpster that was hidden by the dark shadows. The woman only shrugged her shoulders. Something was better than nothing. She looked over her shoulders to make sure no one was paying attention as everyone was arguing about what to do next. She lifted Hoppy into the nearly empty dumpster and followed as she closed them off from the world outside.

“I can’t see.”

“Why are you whispering?”

“So no one finds us, they could steal our things while we sleep.”

“Good point. Here.”

She turned on a head torch and handed it to Hoppy as he pulled it on his head. She sanitized their hands and opened a few cans to fill their bellies for the night. They left the cans where they fell and sat in the dumpster as the sounds of the night were heard outside. Hoppy pressed his ear to the side as the woman laughed.

“Can you hear the ocean?”

“No. It’s too quiet.”

A loud explosion rocked the dumpster as the people screamed outside.

“Hoppy! Come here!”

He dove for her arms and snatched the head torch and tucked it under them as she covered his mouth. There was a loud scrape from the outside of the dumpster as she rolled onto the child and covered them with trash.

“Whatever you do don’t make a sound. Play dead like the people in the street.”

He nodded his head as she pulled up her hood. She stopped moving as the top of the dumpster was ripped off. There was a gurgle and snarls as she stayed completely still. Her hand covered Hoppy’s eyes as he tried to open them.

“Don’t look, they won’t find us,” she pushed under her breath.

There was a sharp poke at her back as she pressed her lips together. She was so close to getting away from the island and she could taste freedom enough to fight whatever was waiting as long as they got away.

A bang nearly made her jump as several feet stomped by. She lifted herself up and looked to the empty alley as she saw the back of the creatures turn onto the docks with blades in hand.

“We need to go, come on.”

She tumbled out of the dumpster and pulled Hoppy after her. They stayed to the shadows as the trailed the alley in the opposite direction of gunfire and screams until they were far away from the chaos. She took his hand and they ran farther until they came to a marina.

“Okay, Hoppy, first one to find a safety raft wins.”

“There,” he pointed to the farthest yacht, “I win.”

“You know, kid. I’m really starting to hate you.”

“Sore loser.”

She laughed as they boarded the boat and pushed a waiting safety raft to the water. The woman flopped to the water and climbed into the plastic raft. She coughed and reached her arms out for him as the raft began to float away.

“Hoppy, come on.”

Tears appeared in his eyes as he looked over his shoulders to the lone creature that was chasing after them. He was able to push himself over the side but couldn’t let go.

“Hoppy, you need to let go or they will get us!”

“What if I drown?”

“I promise to pull you out but you need to jump now!”

The creature appeared behind Hoppy, scaring him as he fell out of the thing’s reach. It drew a weapon and pointed it to the boy as he splashed into the water. The woman drew her own weapon and fired the revolver at the creature, shooting it between the eyes. It fell over the side with its weapon nearly popping the side.

She grabbed it at the last second and used it to help the boy to the raft as he coughed up water. She held him close as the raft carried on to the other side of the river. She used whatever strength she had left to paddle with the creature’s weapon, giving them the speed that was crucial. Fatigue came too quickly as she stopped for a break.

“I wet myself.”

“Believe me, I’m not judging you. Stay cool,” she giggled with her thumb up.

“Okay. Lara!”

Over their shoulders, crafts in the air taking fire to people on the ground. A few changed course and headed in her direction. Her instincts kicked in as she grabbed Hoppy and turned for the water.

“Try and hold your breath!”

She held the child close and dove for the water at the last second as shots were fired at the raft, shredding it to pieces in seconds. The woman kicked and fought to make it to the surface. They found air and coughed as the crafts zoomed away into the night and left them in darkness with the exception of the docks that was caught in a fiery blaze.

She pulled Hoppy on her pack as she tilted her body to balance forward.

“Hold on to my bag and kick. I need your help.”

“Okay. Bunk beds.”

She coughed as she focused on getting them to safety.

“What… are you talking about?”

“The rolling turd. I want to put bunk beds for you and me.”

“That’s good. Keep going…”

“That’s all I have.”

“What kind of sheets? What kind of mattresses? If you want me to get in the turd, you need to impress me. Come on, Hoppy.”

The boy kept talking to keep him calm as they made it to the other side. She grabbed onto the side of the road and hoisted them up to dry land. They had to very much well be in New Jersey as they looked back to Manhattan. The fires lit the side of the skyscrapers and in the distance she could make out the side of Stark tower as the fires below lit it like a Christmas tree. They carried on down the road heading south as the cold night greeted them.

She was able to trick Hoppy into speed walking to keep them warm for about an hour until they grew tired. She took the boy into her arms as he wrapped his arm around her neck. It was enough for her to save this one child, this one soul from the evils that fell on earth a few months back. She thought back to a few weeks ago when the Battle of New York flooded from the TVs. Then it stretched out to the neighboring burrows then to New Haven, Newark and upstate to Buffalo where she was being held.

She was on her way to a prison upstate when blue bolts of energy where fired on the freeway they were traveling. She was too well secured to be injured but she was in the unturned van for hours as she searched of the officers until she was able to unlock herself. She crawled out of the wreckage and locked to the panic of everyone scrambling for some kind of safety. It was the only time where her orange jumpsuit didn’t bother anyone.

She only tied her jumpsuit around her waist and headed towards the only family that she knew. A tear fell down her cheek as she held Hoppy tighter. She had no one else but he had a chance. If worse came to worse, they would have one another.

More time passed as she stopped for a sit down in front of the sign that gave her some hope. Hoppy woke and stretched out as he got to his feet.

“We’re almost there, Hoppy. Do you remember where they live?”

“Kinda…”

She huffed her breath as she ran her fingers through her hair.

“You know what? That’s okay, I’ve always wanted to go sightseeing in Newark.”

She rewrapped her hair as she got to her feet and was shocked as a creature stepped from the trees and pointed their weapon to them. She slowly stepped in front of the boy with her hands up in surrender.

“Hoppy, I need you to tighten the straps on your bag. Do you know where the can opener is?”

“Your bag,” he sniffled.

The creature growled as it approached them. She dropped her bag to the ground as she looked to the creature’s weapon.

“Find a grocery store and look for one. Okay?”

“Lara…”

“Promise me, Hoppy.”

“I promise,” she knew that he was crying as he clung to her legs.

“When I say I need to you run, understand? Don’t stop and don’t look back.”

“I-I pr…”

He was sobbing as he let go to fix his bag and tie the strings around his waist. The creature pointed its weapon to her face as she pulled the boy from her leg. She took in a deep breath and exhaled as the world slowed. In the time it took for the creature to reach the trigger on its weapon, she moved the weapon away and pushed the boy away from her.

“RUN!”

Hoppy listened for once as he ran down the road. She was able to hop on the creature’s back and wrap her arms under what she though was its chin as it tried to pull her off. More crafts appeared over her as she aimed her gun to the thing’s head and fired. It fell as she tumbled to the ground and ran after Hoppy. He was much faster than she had anticipated.

“Keep going!”

The creatures ran after them as they ran closer to the city ahead of them. She caught up to Hoppy as a military jeep screeched to a halt in front of them. Guns fired over head of them as she shielded him. The creatures took cover, firing back as people in black shouted to them.

“Get in!”

The vehicle began to move as the woman lifted Hoppy to safety. A sharp pain coursed her legs as she fell from the side of the jeep. She got to her feet and ran after them. There was nothing she could do to stay out of the line of fire as she raced for Hoppy’s outstretched hand. He screamed for her as she ran as fast as she could. Her lungs were on fire as she tried but it wasn’t enough. She was tackled to the ground as her head hit the ground.

Hard.


	2. Make me wanna die

_“No, no. She’s all wrong…”_

_She could hear a man’s distain as she weaved in and out of consciousness. She could feel a throbbing everywhere in her body but it was her head that hurt the most. The last thing she remembered was the sound her head made when she hit the ground. Hoppy’s voice rang in her ears as the vehicle drove away_

_“There are times when I miss the Asgardian wenches. They don’t carry disgusting marks such as these.”_

_She could feel a faint fingertip at her sides where her stretch marks where. She felt fear in her veins as a darker presence stood on the other side of her._

_“You have completed the conquer of this earth and he allows extra troops for a courting? They all look the same. You have your reward, so just accept it. If you had wanted something else, then you should have specified!”_

_“Do not threaten me, creature or I will have your head. The Midgardians didn’t build their pathetic cities in a day. The rest of the experiments are underway.”_

_“Just get your tasks done or else he will know of your idleness…”_

_The voice faded as the fingertips disappeared from her skin._

_“Ugly,” the softer voice huffed as he ran his fingers through her hair._

_The woman could feel a tingle in the strands of her hair as the man chuckled._

_“Better, for the moment.”_

_His fingers reappeared near the mound of her skin below her stomach as his fingers touched just above her clit to something foreign. He hummed in what she guessed was satisfaction as his fingers ran up her stomach to her chest, filling her with nothing but warmth as his thumb traced her nipple._

_“Oh, my dear. What fun I am going to have with you…”_

_What are you talking about,_ she thought to herself _._

She tried to pull her hand to rub the side of her head but her arms were bound in place. A bright light over head of her flashed on and she was harshly woken by the sound of the humming bulbs. Her eyes were blurred with some tears as she tried to blink them clear. There were footsteps, two sets, almost equal in shuffle as she tried to make them out. Two sets of feet but three separate heartbeats. The third was not her own but one that was behind her.

“She’s awake. Start.”

There was a grind of gears as she felt something shift her body. The feeling was passed her stomach, something between her legs. She forced her eyes down, able to see two sets of emerald green eyes staring up past the surgical masks they were wearing. That was when she remembered the stories of the people that disappeared.

Whomever had won the Battle of New York was using people, dissecting them for whatever reason and she wasn’t about to be one of them. She looked to each of her hands, stretched out painfully at the sides of her head. Her mouth opened to try and let out a scream but the heavy leather between her teeth made it impossible to call for help. She thrashed and screamed into her gag as she kicked her leg up and struck one of the men.

 

She had a moment to see that she was stripped of all her clothing and her body was in an angled medical chair with the feeling between her legs vanishing, leaving her empty.

“Restrain her,” commanded the voice behind her.

Both men pulled her back into her position on the chair. She didn’t even notice as Velcro straps were placed around her legs to keep her in place. Her adrenaline kicked in, giving her the strength to finally lift her head and take a quick look at her surroundings before the attention was put on her again.

From the haunting light, she could see that the walls were a stunningly impossible white. There was no door, meaning that the only possible exit was behind her and the third man as he was heard stepping closer to her.

“Why so eager to get away my, dear? Our fun has only just begun.”

His voice sent a chill down her back as she felt his lips to the back of her neck. She could smell something about him, something calming and… She wasn’t sure. In the time that she stopped, she heard the grinding of the gears again and jumped as a jolt was went through her body.

“You may just enjoy this more than we will.”

The woman tried to turn her head but couldn’t as the man to her left began to let his gloves fingertips wonder her skin.

“She is perfect,” he said.

“She will be better once you fix the machine, so get it done.”

She moaned into her gag as she felt a familiar sensation between her legs. She looked down to the sound of the gears as something dark appeared, rubbing her clit in a steady motion. The man on the left reached between her legs as the object went down. A second later, the previous feeling returned as whatever was between her legs filled her. The gears slowed down at once as she laid petrified.

With every push in, she fought less and less. The third man chuckled as she stopped pulling at her bonds for the moment. She didn’t fight the moans either as her eyes turned to the ceiling.

“She seems a bit uninterested,” said the first man as he placed a kiss to her thigh through the mask.

“Then prepare her more,” said the third man.

“Shall we maintain,” asked the second.

There was a silence past her moans.

“Increase. I want to see what she can do.”

The second man reached over to the machine and turned the dial as the machine’s noise gradually picked up to a quicker speed.

The first man pulled the mask from his face as she looked to his features. His deathly black hair fell to his shoulder as he bent over her stomach and pulled his chair closer. He spread her a bit fuller and smelled her open sex.

“She smells better than the common of wenches,” he praised as he closed his eyes.

“But how does she taste?”

He smiled as he opened his mouth and traced her clit with the tip of his tongue. She moaned as he slowly tortured her, tonguing her, kissing her softer skin as the machine was so close to glazing his cheek. He looked up to the second man and smiled.

“Please,” he softly scolded, “Don’t be shy.”

She saw the second man smile with his eyes as he pulled his own mask away. She was confused as his features were nearly identical to the man sucking her clit. Her eyes shifted back and forth as she tried to make sense of the situation.

 _This couldn’t be happening_ , she though as she closed her eyes and tried to shake herself awake.

“This is very much real, my dear.”

 _No_.

“Yes, my dear. I am merely indulging you in your own fantasy. I have seen this image in your head and am giving you what you desire.”

Her skin flushed red all the way down to her chest as this simple confession that would have been mentally indulged before all of this made her blush as the second man lowered himself to her chest and swept his tongue to the bottom curve of her breast.

“Why fight when you can have what you truly want?”

She wanted to say that she was conflicted but the signs her body was giving was enough to make her cry for mercy. She closed her eyes and felt everything. The thing inside of her that was so close to her spot and stretching her beautifully, the hungry tongue at her clit slowly bringing her to the clouds, the second tongue refusing to leave her skin as it traveled from one breast to the next. The gag made it hard to breathe but she was breathing steadily through her nose as her muffled voice filled the room. She knew it was only a matter of time before the third man made his appearance.

“Now this is better,” said the third man as her body arched from the chair.

She was too busy distracted as her climax hit her so quickly. Her body pulled in every direction as no one or nothing stopped its stimulations to her body.

“Again,” she the man behind her.

The first man wiped the spit from his chin as his fingers strummed at her sensitive clit. He moved up to her chest along with the second man as each man took to one of her breasts. She was in complete euphoria as they suckled from her, kissed her sides and massaged her thighs to make sure no place on her body wasn’t touched.

_What is happening? Wh…_

She finally let go and let her body writhe as she gave in to the impossibility that was surrounding her. She shifted her hips up a fraction as the soft, plastic machine part slipped from her, surprising the men as a small, wet stream flew from between her legs. The first man was quick to replace the toy into her as cried out. The gears went faster as she keened into her gag.

“Well, well,” said the third man, “It seems like your reactions give yourself away, my little minx. Again.”

Her voice was constant as both men put more effort into their work. The second man lunged for her clit as he braced himself over the machine. The first twisted her nipples to hardened peak, painfully and deliciously as she came again. She forced her eyes open as she tried to reel from the constant pleasure erupting through her.

“Again.”

She looked down between her legs as his tongue flicked wildly to her clit. She was nearly thrown for a loop when she saw a shining silver clit piercing that she never had before.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it,” said the third man, “I have heard stories of your kind how the females have a half chance of losing all sensation in their sensitive appendage should it be pierced. Lucky for you, I am rather enjoying your reactions to it.”

_Son of a bitch!_

She whipped her head to the side to try and scream at him through the gag, seeing dark hair cover the side of her face. She turned her head and looked to her now darker, sweaty hair as it cascaded around her arms.

“You were in need of some improvements,” he purred to her ear with her head turned.

She quickly turned her head to catch him. He disgusting glee in his eyes matched the two men moaning and growling into her skin as she moved, making the toy slip again and her cunt ejaculating bit more.

“I have heard stories of this as well. Your naughty little fantasy may have well saved your pathetic Midgardian life. Turn it faster.”

She cried out as she was filled again to the satisfaction of the third man as he bent to her neck and sucked at her skin.

“Do it again,” he whispered into her ear.

Her sides hurt from trying hunch over from the force of her many orgasms as she did everything possible to ease them, only for them to make it worse.

“I can feel your every though, my little minx and you can thank my present to you for that.”

He reached for her clit with the second man moving in time as he swatted playfully at her clit. She wanted so much more as he indulged her unaware thoughts. He grew hard in his war armor as he looked down to the simple earth woman writhing on the chair.

The first two men eased back and looked down to the woman.

“Look at how swollen her clit is. So easily revealed to the world.”

“Look at her toes. The curl is a positive reaction.”

“This means we have done well for a Midgardian whore but I must say my dear, how are you not mad with lust yet? Do you crave for so much more?”

He painfully turned her jaw, making her look him in the eyes as she tried to stay still.

“Do you want something more real between your legs?”

She rocked her hips for more as the toy slipped. He kept his eyes to her as he grabbed the wet plastic and set it right.

“Answer me,” he shouted as he pressed his fingers firmly to her clit.

She shook her head, completely out of breath as the third man chuckled. He waved his hand and made the men and the machine disappear. The bonds and gag were gone as well as she moaned in pleasure and turned to her side. She absent-mindedly pressed her legs together, crying out from how sensitive she was as the man rounded the room.

He snapped his fingers, surprising her as the setting was completely changed. The room had changed and the chair did as well as a comfortable large bed expanded in every direction. The man dissolved his clothing with the wave of his hand as the woman took in the sight of him. Fear crept through her as the pleasure began to ease.

“Answer me this, is it better to be feared or wanted?”

He climbed the bed slowly as he crawled to her. The woman was terrified and waiting for the moment she would cry out his name, if he ever said it at all.

“All you had to do was ask, my dear, and I would have removed the gag to hear you scream it. I see the same look in your eyes like I saw when I conquered your weak planet for myself. I see fear but it is something deeper than my cock will be when I fill you again. I see your conflicted thoughts.”

His eyes glowed as she was eased back to the bed. His fingers wrapped around her neck as her lack of air made her heart race.

“Are you terrified that I could so easily end your life or are you afraid that you will fully give in to what you really want,” he growled as he licked the side of her face.

“Both.”

Her voice stung his ears as it was the first time she spoke clearly.

“An honest answer, I believe I will reward you for such bravery.”

She turned her head back to ask him but was silenced with a kiss as he moaned into her lips. The pause of time between a second kiss let her kiss him back as he accepted her lips. He thrusted his tongue between her lips to conflict with hers as he so plainly won her carnal wishes.

“I am Loki, of Asgard and I have teeming with superlative triumph as evidence of my conquests of your lands. I gave you fantasy and reality but all it took was a simple kiss. I believe I will have fun with you. Tell me, what is it that you truly desire.”

He settled himself between her legs and pressed his cock to her clit as he rocked his hips up. The woman gasped as her whole body cried out for him. He heard who hard she fought to get herself to safety before she was captured but with a few strokes to her cunt, she was nearly his puppet.

_You._

“I want to hear you say it, whore.”

“I want you, Loki.”

“Very well…”

He shifted his hips forward into her cunt as she grabbed at the silk bedsheets underneath her. Her mouth dropped open as she elicited a deep moan to harden his cock more than the mountains of Jotunnhiem as he shuddered into her neck.

“Your little quim is as welcoming as Valhalla. Such an unspoiled fit but know that you will earn your keep here with me.”

He growled as her trembling walls were close to showing signs of a growing release, perhaps one to suppress the rest. A shame that he was as close as well as he watched her give in to her fantasies. Her voice grew as he thrusted into her wet cunt, satisfying his need for her the minute he had her sedated and stripped. All of his improvements ascertained successful as he changed everything he didn’t like about her.

The blonde hair reminded him of his previous wife, not wanting to think of the lies fed to him his whole life. He took away her unsightly stretch marks that covered her sides to make her flawless and tantalizing but the ring of Chitauri metal through her bundle of nerves was more for his benefit as he pressed his thumb to make her scream, all of which she did to bring him closer.

Her eyes sealed shut as her body was hit hard with an orgasm that made her lose her breath. She wasn’t sure that she had ever experienced something such as this as she was lost in ongoing bliss. Loki pistoned his hips into her wetness, feeling it drip to the bed. He never wanted it to end, the feeling of her clenching around his cock. Him let himself go, climaxing as he bit his lip enough to draw blood as he emptied himself into her.

He panted for breath as he felt the shuddering woman underneath him. She slowly regained her breath as she felt herself ashamed and drenched from what had just happened. Her headache was gone but so many things flew through her head as she felt his presence. She gave into her exhaustion as Loki rolled off of her and to her side.

She was hiding so much and all he had to do was exhaust her to the point of insanity.

He brushed the dark strands from her eyes as she slowly faded to her sleep. He waved his hand to cover her with a green robe for the time being until he’d tear it from her and claim her again. It was his right now that Earth was his. Loki leaned back to the headboard as he pulled the woman to his chest. His softened cock began to harden again as he thought of the ways to take her.

He closed his eyes and smiled as he looked into her thoughts to find what he was looking for.

“Sleep, my Cody. We are going to have the most fun together…”


	3. Under my nails

Loki clothed himself as he heard a knock at his bedroom door. Cody had slept through the night as Loki held her close. It was nothing out of affection but to see her as he touched himself through the night. It caused him great pain not to flip her to her back and claim her in the darkness of the bedroom but he waited. He would wait but it would all be worth it. First, though he wanted to make sure she was in tip top shape. He was so close to having her perfect.

One of the nurses he’d controlled entered as he ordered so that Cody could be tested for any kind of sicknesses. It would have been a shame to take in a woman that could die from something so easily. Aesir beings never contracted such dull sickness as the puny Midgardians had. There were so many that he was impressed how they had survived over the centuries. He was glad to have exhausted Cody to the fullest extent as the nurse drew several tubes of her blood. The instant loss would keep her stationary for the time being until he came back for her again.

“I want to see you preform the tests.”

“Yes, sir. That way you’ll have the results without waiting.”

He followed the nurse out of the bedroom as he looked to Cody’s naked thigh. Such a simple sight, sent a chill to his cock as he groaned.

“Good, I have a busy day ahead of me…”

_Hoppy outstretched his little hand to her as he screamed out the name she had given him. She reached for him, trying to get away from the events that had happened in the medical chair. She turned her head to the changing seen as Hoppy’s voice disappeared and her own voice filled her ears. She saw her hair turn brown as she looked in horror to the very medical chair. She saw Loki standing behind the chair, watching her moan and silently beg for more as his copies answered her beckoned call._

_Tears rans down her face as Loki rubbed his cock through his pants and looked up to her, knowing she was there._

_“Not exactly what I’m used to.”_

_The room turned pitch black and she was left alone in the room as she turned and ran from his voice but it was no use._

_“No!”_

_“You seemed accustomed to scream yes…”_

_She slammed both feet into the floor and launched herself forward as she snapped herself awake._

Cody felt the sweat running down her face as she pushed herself upright. There was a pleasant wetness that scared her as she ran her fingers over her sex. She shook her head in disbelief as the tips of her fingers touched the piercing Loki enjoyed so much.

“Fucker…”

She held her hair out, seeing in fact that he had changed her appearance. Cody ignored the sudden tears as she ran to the mirror and tore open the robe. She fell to her knees and sobbed as she saw that the stretch marks from her pregnancy were gone, leaving her skin smooth and flawless. She saw through the tear stained eyes that her irises were still brown. It didn’t matter, he would change that as well.

“Fucking monster,” she hissed as she sobbed into her hands.

“Darling, I haven’t even started.”

Cody was taken completely by surprise as Loki rushed to her and hauled her up to her feet and he pushed her roughly into the mirror as it shattered behind her.

“You foul little serpent! You think you can tempt me and transmit your sicknesses to me?!”

“What the fuck are you talking about?!”

“TELL HER!”

A nurse appeared as she smiled to Cody.

“HPV, about six months. It’s treatable with medication.”

“That won’t be necessary. Leave us.”

The nurse bowed her head as she looked in Loki’s eyes. The emeralds had disappeared as a haunting blue had taken its place. They were almost as blue as Charlie’s. Loki shot his hand between Cody’s legs and chanted as her hips felt like they were being pricked by needles. He pulled his hand away and watched as a dark liquid dripped between her legs.

“All done.”

Loki swung his arm and struck Cody as she was knocked to the floor. She winced as she felt blood drip from her split lip.

“Stupid whore,” he grunted as he lowered himself to her.

He pulled the open robe over her shoulder as he smiled.

“You are all so weak and pathetic but I will remedy you yet.”

“I didn’t even know, it’s been a long few months. Not like you’d notice, asshole.”

“A slut and irresponsible, seems befitting to you.”

Cody reached underneath her and grabbed a piece of glass as she slashed deeply into the side of Loki’s face. She didn’t stay to see how badly she cut him but she pushed past the people rushing to a howling Loki as orders were given to retrieve her. Cody ran down the halls of where ever she was and didn’t stop until she found an elevator. She pushed the button countless times as she tied her green robe tightly together. Over the sounds of approaching footsteps, she could hear the creatures of the Manhattan streets coming up in the elevator car.

Cody turned her head to the stairwell doors and ran for her life. She crashed through the door and headed down, staying alert for the ground floor. Her eyes caught the “40” as she was sent into full-on panic mode. She watched her footing around the lose building dust and clenched the railing whenever she could.

It wasn’t until she reached the tenth floor when a loud screech from the creatures made her forget about her safety as she skipped two steps at a time and burst open to the ground floor. She ran through the empty lobby as people shouted after her. She skid to a stop as she bumped into one of the creatures watching the entrance as it drew its weapon at her. She closed her eyes thinking it would be a quick death until a familiar strong arm pushed her back.

“Stop! I will make you extinct if any harm comes to her again.”

Loki turned his head back to Cody as she looked in horror to the blood running from the healing gash on his cheek. Her head turned up as she saw she had run from the repairing structure of Stark Tower.

“That’s right, my dear. You should be very afraid.”

He snapped his fingers and they were taken to the Penthouse as Cody looked to the people going about their day with a quick glance to her and Loki.

“Get out!”

Cody watched as everyone dropped their tasks and turned their blue eyes to the next room. Loki wrapped his fingers around Cody’s neck as he dragged her across the penthouse floor and held her to the glass window. She could see over her shoulder to the destruction he had caused, so many hearts that had stopped beating below her.

“You think you will win; you will never get away from me.”

He pulled a silver pen from his pocket as he grabbed her hair and yanked her head forward. Her limbs shot to the window as she was immobile. She watched as he pried the top off with his teeth and spit the cap to the ground. He thrusted the tip of the pen into the back of her neck. A painful shriek fell from Cody’s throat as she felt a heaviness flood her whole body. The pain was almost unbearable as she gasped for air.

Loki was unmoved as he pulled the pen from Cody’s neck and released her as she fell to the floor weak. She felt her body numb as she looked to her skin as swirls of ink appeared under her skin. Loki lifted her to her feet and held out her arms.

“Try as you might. The more you try and push away, the more I yearn for you, my Cody.”

“What did you do to me?”

“These,” he said stroking the marks as they settled on her skin, “are going to be how I keep you in line. I could have easily used my scepter to put you under my control but something about your resistance is intoxicating as your compliance. A beautiful scale just waiting to be tipped.”

Cody’s face turned red as she refused to look him in the eye.

“You may as well kill me now.”

“That can be arranged.”

He shot his hand forward to her neck and lifted her high from the ground. She kicked and fought to breathe as she started to lose consciousness. Her heart began to slow as her mind fogged to the last time she felt scared.

She looked over her shoulder to the ultrasound of the fetus at 26 weeks. It was so small but it was there and it wasn’t Charlie’s. She raked her mind with every possible idea to get rid of it. She didn’t believe in abortions but there would be signs. Cody had always dreamed of running. Maybe she would do so and finally get away from the hell that was her home…

Loki watched as the color faded from her eyes. She had clawed into his arms, making him bleed as he used both hands to squeeze the life from her. The ink was of his own concoction and would do its job to the best of its abilities. If not, then he would miss her greatly. Cody’s eyes rolled into the back of her head and her arms dropped to her sides. He ignored the robe as it started to slide from her shoulder. Her lifeless head rolled back as a trickle of blood dripped slowly from her nose to his knuckle.

Loki set his teeth and set her on her knees with both hands still around her neck. Absent tears fell down her face as used all of his strength and snapped her neck in two. He flexed his hands and felt the bit of bone threatening to stick through the side of her neck. It would only take a minute as picked her up from the rug and carried her to the waiting chair that was his night after night.

He looked to the straight bold green lines that had formed from the swirls on her skin and he wondered if he had waited long enough. He only waited and stroked the hair from her dead face as Cody laid impossibly still. He looked down to the sudden glow of the marks as he chuckled to himself. Her blue skin started to warm as he wrapped an arm around her waist to play with the ties of her robe. He wanted to wait until she was fully alive. Every possible word would have to count.

Cody’s body jerked as Loki held her close. He pulled her ear back to his mouth as he kissed just below her earlobe.

“Welcome back. Did you enjoy death?”

Cody tried to talk but her throat was in so much pain. She couldn’t swallow, let alone try to talk. She was scared to try and feel at her throat as she felt the little bone snap back into place. She looked to her veins, blackened from the ink as she felt something different. Her nose stopped bleeding as did the cut on her lip as she licked away the blood.

“My spell proved robust as expected.”

She felt the soreness in her body dissolve as she was thrown in a coughing fit. Her throat stung as she tried to move away from Loki. He pulled them to their feet as she scrambled to get away. She kicked her foot down and struck his knee as they crashed to the glass windows. Loki yanked her head back as he ran his tongue up the column of her neck.

His hand slipped to the front of her robe, pulling at the lapels as her naked chest was pressed to the glass. His grinded himself into the small of her back as she tried to prop herself up.

“You fight so much for someone that submits so easily. I will break you under pressure and cleanse you all any impurities I deem unworthy.”

“You were too stupid to have me tested before you and your fucking stooges had your way with me!”

“You, Midgardian, weren’t complaining as we led you to the peak of release.”

“Go to hell!”

Cody threw her elbow back into Loki’s face as his cut finished healing. She stumbled a few short inches before she was thrown back into the glass as the back of her head made a large crack in the panels. She looked to her arms as glowing white tattoo ink held her to the glass. Loki chuckled and pushed the long silk sleeves from her wrists.

“Cody, you are mine now,” he stated as he traced the tattoo with his finger, moving it to the tingle in her neck, “You can choose to comply or I will claim you until you understand but in time I will take you in every way.”

“You fucking branded me?!”

“Not brand but I can if that is what it will take…”

“Get your fucking hands off of me!”

“But is that what you really want?”

His finger traced down to her chest, looking down to the ominous looking tattoo across her chest plate as it hummed to her skin. Loki leaned his head forward, turning her face to the glass as his lips traced up her neck. From the corner of her eye, she could see how the radiance grew with every touch. Loki peeled the robe from her shoulders, groping her breasts enough to emit a moan from her as the glow grew again.

“You should know that I am the God of Lies. This,” he said licking her glowing skin, “is to show how much of a wench you really are.”

He pulled the cock from his trousers and teased Cody as she tried to pulled herself away from the glass.

“No, you don’t.”

He shifted his hips up and filled Cody in one thrust as she cried out. Her wrists almost lifted from the glass until Loki pressed her between himself and the window. He lifted her legs over his to keep her in place as he spread her own were painfully. Loki growled into her neck as he let her moans and whimpers fill him with joy.

“Fight me, Cody,” he panted into her ear, “but you will see the world as I see it. Broken and wicked. Never in all my years have I found such a perfect fit. You yearn for me as well by the evidence of your walls begging for my cock. You wish for more, don’t you?”

Cody was starting to slip as she pulled her hands. She didn’t want to admit to anything but none of it mattered as Loki slipped his hand between them and softly pinched her clit between his two fingers. She cried out as Loki growled into her neck.

“Such reactions. Again.”

He pinched a bit harder as her hips bucked into his hand. She could feel how wet she was and it made her blush from her cheeks to her breasts as Loki traced her jaw with his tongue. Her back began to hurt the more he pounded her into the glass. He waved his hand and let the tattoos go as her hand shot for the back of his neck.

He lifted her legs up higher to his shoulders and slammed his hips against hers. He tore the robe to pieces from her arms as the shreds fell to either side of them. What was left of the robe hung at her arms, clinging to her arms as they scrambled to get ahold of anything to keep her steady. Loki pushed her legs together to his shoulder, thrusting into her as he slapped at her ass. He struck her again and again, mostly because she wouldn’t fight back and to teach her a lesson as she cried out when he hit harder.

He stopped enough to take them to the bedroom and threw her down face first on the bed. He held her hips down with one hand and swatted at her other side until she kicked at him. He smiled to the ink bonds at her ankles as he snapped his fingers and spread her apart enough for it to hurt. Loki fought his every muscle as he grabbed his cock and traced her wet lips. He tortured her as she tried to rock her hips back to him. He knew he had won.

Loki snapped his hips forward into her wetness and relished in his mortal slave’s submission. He twined his fingers into her hair and pulled her whole body back to meet his thrusts. He was driven mad more of her wetness coated him, making want more before she found her release. He wrapped his fingers around her throat and licked her ear to get her attention.

“Look at you, my sweet little whore. Look at you writhe against me like you cannot get enough. I will glad give you what you need but I will not stop until I am truly satisfied.”

He wrapped his fingers tighter, wanting to feel the bones in her neck again.

“I wonder how much you’ll enjoy me after I tie you up and claim you countless times in front of your other mortal beings as the treacherous wench that you are.”

She cried out as came, arching her back as Loki only continued fucking her. He massaged his fingers roughly into her clit as she came again. Her walls contracted, making his thigh wet and he couldn’t’ get enough. He let her throat go as Cody gasped for air and leaving growing moans in their place.

“You are most beautiful when you give in to your pleasures and I will reward you with my infinite knowledge of the carnal ways.”

It wasn’t meant as a question but a promise as he sank his teeth into her shoulder and emptied himself into her. She cried out in pain as she felt blood trickle from her arm but bliss as he pulled his fingers away from her clit.

Cody’s arms felt like rubbed as her back ached as she fell exhausted to the bed. Loki rolled to his back and smiled to the ceiling as Cody passed out next to him. He was happy that he was being to feel sated. He was disappointed to the fact that it was taking too long to break in Cody. None the less, he had the Chitauri to guard her and he had all the time in the world. She was still so weak and the only way to make her Aesir was to take her as his bride.

He softened at the thought of taking a bride again as he got to his feet and dressed himself. He didn’t care that he was leaving Cody, open and exposed for the whole world to see as he left the bedroom door open and marched forward to the science floors of the Tower. Loki crossed his arms, thinking to himself if the decision he was about to make was one for the better.

He had done what was asked of him and he didn’t want to be distracted by something that was already done with. He pushed open the doors of the lab as everyone stopped their tasks.

“After tonight, experiments here will end. Dispose of them, in what ways, I do not care. Should you wish to continue your work, do so at your own expense.”

“What does this mean,” said one of the controlled.

“It means I have no more need for you all. So either take your thing and get out of my tower or you will join your subjects as I dissect you for the disgusting animals that you are…”


	4. Cody's got a gun

He closed his eyes and thought about the past few hours. Loki was enjoying the time he spent with Cody. Her submission was getting the best of her as he indeed took her in every possible way. He took her over every flat surface of the Tower, again in the medical chair and even one on the roof. It hadn’t slipped his mind in the slightest when he took his eyes off her for a second when he dressed himself and Cody ran in her tethered dress over the side of the tower to her attempted death.

The Chitauri had retrieved as much of her as they could, blood and all. Loki had laid her lifeless smudge on a lab table with high sides to keep the blood in place and watched as her body repaired itself before his eyes. He sat back in his chair now, staring to her veins repair and her soft skin stitch together. A little while longer and she would be punished for trying to harm herself.

Loki followed his controlled to the other parts of tower. He attempted to listen as he thought to the ways Cody was going to scream. He had already done everything imaginable with the exception of one. He smiled as he looked off to one of his Chitauri stations near one of the cities in the distance. There were resistances trying to take out the smaller of Chitauri factions but he would always have the upper hand to keep them at bay.

He closed his eyes and walked away from the worried suggestions of his minions, not minions. Minions would show results and everyday there were forces coming that much closer but he wasn’t going to let them take back what was his with a draw of blood.

_Cody pushed her blond hair over her shoulder now that it was long enough. Something was telling her to leave but she waited. Charles was home for three months now after being deported again within the next 48 hours. He was still angry with the fact that he was leaving again so soon and she everything in her power to keep him happy. She was finishing dinner as she heard Charles get into the shower._

_She wiped up everything to perfection and placed the leftovers in the fridge by color and container size, praying, though she was not religious, for Charles to be called back. It happened all the time and she was careful to hide her money from him should she need to flee. She picked up an empty vegetable bags from the floor and closed her hands around the opening. She didn’t think anything of it as she slammed the palm of her hand into the bag, popping it as she was startled by the loud bang and scream from Charles. He was partially naked from the towel that was draping from his waist as he backpedaled into the fridge._

_She could understand PTSD from an IED taking the life of everyone, leaving him and one of his men alive as everyone else died but the asshole he was before he enlisted was able to get away with whenever he hit her and threatened to throw her out on the streets. She saw the fury in his eyes as reached forward for her and snarled._

_Cody was able to get away in time as she grabbed her keys and ran from the house. The prepaid card she kept in her pocket would get her a hotel for a day, then she would be on her own after that. She walked into the city with her head held high. She sat in a musty bar as she ordered several shots with Charles’ money. Once he was gone, he would stay that way for at least nine months this time._

_She’d be careful with her money and head to Florida as a safe precaution but Cody knew she would miss Buffalo. It was her home for so long but she no longer had anything waiting for her the minute when Charles hurt her for having a miscarriage._

_It had hurt, it had all hurt so much but she remembered the hand that touched her arm when she sat at the bar. It was the first act of kindness she had felt in a while. She took the shot from the young Haitian man, only after she kept her eyes on it to make sure she wasn’t drugged. She could have been for all she knew, as long as it wasn’t Charlie…_

Her eyes flew open as her whole body shook in pain. She looked down to her veins, darkened as her body healed itself. There were no shackles on her this time but she knew when she turned her head to meet his eyes that she was going to pay.

“You still want to die,” asked Loki as he leaned forward in his chair.

“I only wanted to make sure.”

Her clothes were in shreds as she felt weak. Loki sighed and waved his hand as the table under her changed into a cushioned bench. Her wrists shot up and held to the seat as two of the creatures emerged from the shadows. They snarled and huffed to her but there was something frighteningly different about them. Their heads tilted while their throats rippled. Their once piercing screams where now soft gurgles and clicks as they looked down to Cody. She in turn looked to Loki as the machine appeared between her legs.

One of the creatures pierced her skin with a needle as Cody’s sides went numb. There was a soft hum, a warm feeling where the piercing was as her senses began to dull. She knew her body was shaking the moment one of the creature’s hands touched her skin. It body began to twitch as it tore off its mask and hissed to her.

“Once every decade, the Chitauri,” he gestured to the creatures, “go into heat and are ravenous among their kind for days on end. You have tested my patience with your last endeavor, Cody and I am doing everything in my power to decide if I should give you over to them while they draw your blood. I, for one, would be intrigued while I see a monster take you for the whore that you are.”

“And what have you been doing for the past four months?”

She had kept count but was sure she could have missed a week or two. Time had crept together and she was sure as she jumped that if she had survived by some miracle, that it would be a sign. She did want to survive but if she did die if wouldn’t have been the end of the world. Cody was his prisoner, punishing her when she tried to escape and this time wasn’t to be any different but something _was_ different.

This was the only time that he didn’t lash out at her or try to shove her over the nearest surface. It was always the quieter moments like this that scared her now especially when the second creature dragged its slimy tongue across her skin.

“I have invested so much into you and will not let you go to waste.”

Scaly, rough hands marveled at her healed skin as the creatures got closer. She could see some sadness in his eyes as he ran his thumb ran over his lower lip.

“Have I not given you what you wanted? Have you not been treated kindly? Given rich fabrics to wear? Food to nourish yourself? All that I asked was you obey me; your king.”

“You’re not my fucking king!”

“So be it,” he said aloof as the creatures took ahold of her legs and spread them apart.

She heard the familiar grind of the gears as she was pulled to the edge of the cushion. She could feel the edge of the toy touch her lips as the creatures looked to her lips. She almost didn’t notice how Loki had pulled up his chair to the side of the cushion and stroked her hair. He was sad but she didn’t know why.

“They are amazed by you, Cody and in the state they are in now, they are only waiting on my word.”

“What?”

A sharp clicking was heard from both of the Chitauri as they hissed to the machine.

“Watch how your lips don’t refuse intrusion. They are as welcoming as the rest of your sex. I am not sure of how gentle they will be with you. Their tongues may be longer but they will sink their teeth into you and it will hurt.”

He arched his head smiling as Cody shifted her hips and made the toy go deeper. She moaned and gasped for breath as she pushed herself up for the toy. The more the gears turned, the more everyone grew excited, including Cody. She was now used to showing her carnal side so easily since Loki fucked her more often than usual. Loki reached between her legs and only touched her clit as she cried out.

“What do you want from me,” she screamed, able to find a moment of lucidity through the bliss.

“Your choice,” he whispered as he kissed the side of her face, “I will forgive you, if you will stay as mine but if you wish to leave then I will understand.”

She shook her head as she tried to focus. She cursed, seeing how red her skin had flushed. She knew what she wanted.

“You…”

“Make me believe it, Cody.”

“Loki, please make them stop. Ah!”

She could feel the creature on the right sink its teeth into her hip as Loki shot to his feet and knocked the creature away.

“Stand down or I will end your life!”

The creature shrieked and lunged forward to Loki as he stabbed its side with the blade. They landed clearly on the other side of the room, away from the machine. The second took no time in taking advantage of Cody as he tried to pull her away from the machine. Her body flipped from the cushion, unable to get away as her wrists were still pinned to the but it didn’t care. It only pushed her forward so that her legs dangled over one side of the cushion as her top half was pressed to the floor.

_Loki!_

She screamed as the creature folded itself over her and taking ahold of her hips. A wave of dark liquid covered her back, dipping to her chest as the creature was still. The only thing that she could hear was her breath and the machine as the wheels and cogs slowed to a halt. The creature was pushed from her and she was pulled to her feet as Loki checked her. She saw the slash marks to his chest and face as half of his clothes hung from his body.

“Are you alright?”

Cody nodded as she felt the creatures blood, dripping down her legs.

“Go clean yourself.”

Cody forced herself forward as she left Loki behind and walked to the elevator to take her up to the penthouse.

-

It was well into the evening as Cody sat by herself in the library whenever she had the strength to walk, she would barricade herself in the rows of books. Tony Stark had almost every book she could think of as she piled the books next to her on the floor. There were no windows, making it easier to drown out the newer world.

She reached up for her stomach out of instinct feeling nothing there. Oh, how things would have changed if things were different…

There was a twinge in her side as the bite marks finished healing. She didn’t want to lift her dress, the rich silk green wrap dress that had been laid out for her. So many things were done for her now. She was rewarded every time that she pleased Loki and it was hard to be a royal whore inside a gilded cage. She shut her eyes and clutched her book to her chest as she thought about Hoppy.

There was a great possibility that he was dead. Hopefully, it would have been quick so he could be reunited with his family. She accidently fell asleep, dreaming of him as she ran with her arms tightly wrapped around him.

Loki appeared from his washroom, pink and clean from the Chitauri blood that he scrubbed away. He planned on letting the Chitauri have their way with Cody but the more he looked to her…

He wasn’t sure of what was happening to him. He couldn’t let any danger come to him.

_What are you doing?_

He looked up to the body length mirror as his reflection laughed to him. He didn’t meet the blue eyes because then he would be filled with rage again and he didn’t want that. Loki only ignored it.

_She is a prize, a spoil of war. Why are you moping over a mortal?_

“Stay to your business and I shall stay to mine.”

He turned feeling the presence gone but he knew well whom was watching him. Thanos laughed as he closed the glass to the mortal world. Everything was as it should have been.

“Sire, he is merely a pawn now. Pawns are useless.”

“There is something more. We just haven’t seen it yet. Something is coming…”

Loki already knew where she was as he stopped to the last aisle of books. He turned and saw her curled into a ball as she slept. She was a prize that was granted to him. His eyes went to her skin as it was caressed by the silks he had conquered for her. They were as weak as she was when he ripped them from her. His cock throbbed at the sight of her, so vulnerable as she draped herself over the piles of books. A rumble filled his chest as he stooped down to her and stroked the hair away from her eyes. He began to feel something terrifying and new, something that made him sick to his stomach. He could feel it when he saw the Chitauri put their hands on Cody and flipped her to her stomach as they were about to take her.

He had never swung his dagger truer into something as he pulled Cody away from the blood. He couldn’t bring it upon himself to be mad with her when she ran to the edge of the tower to try and escape.

It was madness. It was all madness. It was also Thanos.

He was slipping back into his mind the more he held the scepter and the more he was around the tesseract. The connection was still intact with the Other, meaning that Thanos could have pushed through at any time. He was sure he made his way through to enjoy Cody when he was at the peak of making her scream. Thanos always enjoyed screams.

He lifted Cody into his arms and carried her from the library. Her body was draped in his arms as she turned into his chest and smiled. He knew then what it was he felt.

_No._

He didn’t feel it with his previous wife but…

He could hear the voices down the hall as he barricaded them from coming to the room. For now, he needed to be with Cody. He needed to stay with her. More of anything, he needed her as he placed them on the bed of the main bedroom. He tried to toy with her dress as he always did, stopping as his idle touches became steadfast. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close as he closed his eyes.

_Cody smiled for the first time in a while as she pushed herself off of the Haitian man as he stayed leaned against the railing, catching his breath and half naked._

_“Where are you off to, pretty girl?”_

_She pulled her bra back up into place and reached for her shirt._

_“Motel. I’m trying to hide from my husband.”_

_“What did you do,” he laughed._

_“I made him mad. He goes back overseas in two days. I want to be gone for three.”_

_“Stay with me,” he offered._

_“No, thank you. I prefer solitude,” he called over her shoulder as she pulled up her jeans._

_He wrapped his arm around her waist and pushed his hand down the front of her pants. Cody let her head fall back to his shoulder as she rocked her hips to his hand. She was already in too deep as he pulled them from the alley where they were hiding and into a cab. None of it would matter, he would be gone and she would never see him again._

_It would be for the best._

_She would remember the way he stayed with her for five days in the motel room and how she left in the middle of the night when she accidently told him her name. She returned home to the destruction of her husband. She sighed and stepped around the broken glass and furniture as she made her way to the attic where she hid her money._

_There was almost enough to leave but she needed a few more months to save and then she would be gone. She was a wreck, stressing herself out. Waitressing in double shifts as her body had taken a great toll. That September, two months later, she placed her hand on her stomach as two and two came together. She hadn’t seen Charlie or her Haitian man since then and she bit back the consequences of her fucked up actions._

He could hear the explosions in the distance and it would only be a matter of time. There was a chance that his forces could hold off until he came to. He opened his eyes, looking to his woman. No, _his_ woman as she stirred in her dreams. He felt his eyes glow as he looked into her mind.

_Loki found her standing in an echo of her thoughts. She was always so careful to build walls around her memories and in this state he could have looked anywhere but stayed as he found her. Her hair was blond again as it rained down her back. She was holding her stomach in fear as a tear ran down her cheek. He stopped behind her, completely oblivious to him as he leaned forward._

_“What is it that you want?”_

_She didn’t flinch but she kept still, unaware that she was still dreaming._

_“I want a second chance. I could have done better.”_

_He looked to her hands again, understanding what she was talking about._

_“Better than your own?”_

_“Better than me.”_

_“Is that what you want, Cody?”_

She woke at the sound of her name as the painful hum in her body was gone. She stopped and looked to Loki.

“Is that what you want Cody?”

“You stay out of my head.”

She turned and moved from the bed but not before Loki grabbed her by the waist and kissed her neck. It was getting harder for Cody to hide how he was making her feel. In the four months that she was in Stark Tower, he knew how to make her stop fighting and want him but he didn’t want to make her submit, he needed more.

“Tell what you want, Cody.”

“I- I don’t know…”

“I am the God of Lies, woman. Do us a favor and stop lying to yourself.”

She thought back to the moment she fell over the side of the tower to the streets of Manhattan below. Only one thing went through her mind and it was him. It was him and she was too ashamed to say it.

“Do you want me to stop,” he asked kissing the side of her neck.

“No.”

He laced his fingers into her hair and gently tipped her head back to him as his teeth grazed her earlobe. A moan escaped her as Loki groped at her breasts through the dress, seconds from tearing it away. No, he had to do this right and it was all against what he stood for.

“Do you want to leave?”

He stopped and let his arms drop as Cody turned. She pushed down the lump in her throat and shook her head.

“Do you want me?”

“Yes.”

Her voice was so soft and close to breaking as she backed into the wall. Loki slowly closed the space between them as he controlled himself beautifully. He stopped in front of her and pressed his lips to hers as she accepted his kiss. Her whole world was coming down around her as she felt the walls shake, perhaps she was still dreaming.

“Would you have me, Cody. Would you be mine?”

“You almost gave me to those things…”

“I wanted to but I knew I couldn’t, I wasn’t able to be the tyrant I had made myself to be. They touched you, threatening to take you and I couldn’t let that happen. I will never let them or anyone touch you again. Not even the man that was your husband.”

“He’s already died. I put a bullet in his head but it was all for nothing.”

“I will never hurt you like that again, you have my word.”

Cody had heard those words before and snapped out of her daze.

“Word’s for shit,” she sighed as he kissed her again.

“Let me prove it to you.”

He took her face into both of his hands and poured all of his honest emotions into the kiss that finally broke her heart. She held on to his arms, giving in as he wrapped an arm to her waist and held her to his chest. He took her hand as a silver band with emerald stone appeared on her ring finger. Her heart raced as she tried to make sense of things.

“I-I…”

“Will you be mine, Cody? Be my queen. I can’t be without you.”

This was wrong.

“You aren’t thinking straight, Loki. Find someone else.”

“Make me a humble man. This is all I ask of you. Be mine and I will give you what you want.”

His knuckle brushed her stomach and she was terrified that he would keep true to his promise. Her skin felt like it was on fire as his fingers traced her skin and made her feel like she was being pricked with needles. This ring was more comfortable than the one that Charlie gave her when they eloped in Reno. Cody shook to the monster’s touch. She wanted badly to compare him to Charlie but she felt like there was more to Loki than he cared to share.

He had dropped all of his powerful nonsense and was standing in front of her weak and begging.

“Say that you are mine. I need to hear you say…”

“I am yours, Loki.”

“Will you truly be my bride?”

“Yes.”

No, it was all wrong. Something was wrong and she could feel it down in her bones.

She heard her voice agree but she felt that it was all wrong. Her knees began to shake as Loki tilted her head back and deepened his kisses. He lifted Cody from her feet and carried her to the bed as his lips refused to leave hers. He stopped with tears in his eyes as he looked down to her.

Loki’s fingers pulled the ties of her dress as she felt his magic chance her undergarments underneath the dress. Her bones hummed as she pulled herself from Loki and looked to her skin as she swore that it started to glow.

“W-Wh…”

“You are my wife now, meaning that you are an Aesir being. Also meaning that I do not need to hold myself back from you.”

He pulled the lapels of her dress apart as her skin slowly revealed her skin and her newer undergarments. Instead of her plain golden panties, she was dressed in black lace and for once, a bra but the fabric barely covered a curve of her breast as her nipple was visible. Loki smiled as he pulled Cody higher up the bed.

She set herself on the pillows and tried to cover herself out of instinct. Loki took each of her hands, kissing the bold green lines on her wrists as he moved closer to her skin. She wasn’t paying attention to radiant glow of her chest as his lips inched towards her breast. He kissed her skin once and felt her whole body was on fire.

“The Chitauri inserted you with their blood, making you, as a female, fertile to the fullest extent.”

She nodded her hand, understanding.

“Will you carry my child?”

A tear fell down his cheek. Something…

“Yes, Loki.”

This wasn’t her at all.

She reached up for him, bracing the bed as she pulled herself up for him and nothing else. Loki waved his hand to make himself bare as he settled between her legs. She gasped as her sudden wetness showed on the tips of his fingers, chuckling to her reactions.

“You are ready for me.”

He grinded himself into her clit as she grabbed at his shoulders. His fingers slipped under her the straps of her bra pulling as he lowered his mouth to her breasts. The blood made her more sensitive as his lips left open hungry kisses to her chest. Cody laced her fingers into Loki’s dark hair, jerking his head up roughly as he cried out from her surprising new strength. She wrapped her fingers around his throat and wrapped his legs around his waist as he was matched evenly with her.

He shifted his hips as Cody cried out from the sensation. He snapped his fingers, sending her wrists to either side of her face.

“Now, now. You are not use to your strength yet.”

He winded the fabric of her panties in his fist and tore it all away as he moved down her body to her thighs. The tattoos at her ankles glowed as they were pulled apart, leaving the smell of her to intoxicate him. He spread her lips and tasted her as his eyes sank shut. Cody pulled as much as she could but was too diverted. The ways, the things her body was feeling was more than she could comprehend.

Loki drove his tongue further as he moaned into her clit. Her body was a thing of wonder as he already knew but with her finally being Aesir, there would be more ways to push her. She would last longer, resisted more and the please would be endless. He stopped and moved up her stomach, placing kisses up her skin as he ended at her breasts. He lapped and suckled at her chest as she slowly writhed under him. He let his mind wander to the thought of his child growing inside of her as he thrusted his hips forward and filled her.

Cody knew she wasn’t thinking clearly anymore as she heard the hiss of the tattoos whining at her strength while she tried to reach for Loki. Her body was on fire, consumed in the building coil in her stomach as Loki filled her. Everything was different now. Every thrust made her cry out and want more of him. Every sound, every keen made him harder than he could ever imagine. He covered her, needing to taste every bit of her skin. His hand groped her breasts, slowly pinching her nipples to hear her voice again. He released the bonds as her hands shot for Loki, expecting her to push him off. Instead, she clawed at his back and twined her fingers into his hair as her growing moans filled his ears.

It was all too satisfying as he thrusted hard into Cody. Her walls began to tremble as he pistoned his hips, feeling her heat drawn him closer. Cody was terrified feeling loved by Loki. She already knew because she never felt it with anyone else. He was a monster but she didn’t care as long as he kept his arms around her.

_She looked in the mirror to the stretch marks. She did everything, cocoa butter, Vaseline, whatever she found online but they were still there. She looked over her shoulder to the suitcase of things she was ready to take with her with the newest thing being a small stuffed lamb doll. She decided to keep the baby and raise it as her own. She was skeptical at first but the first time she felt the baby kick, it had kicked for her. She felt its need for her as she caved in and did everything in her power to keep it alive, even pack her things and plan to leave._

_There was such a great amount of money, not as much as she had wanted but enough to get her away to start a new life for herself. She had the bag in her hand as she turned and saw Charlie red with bandages on his face as he stood in the doorway. He looked down to her stomach and clenched his fists. She wasn’t scared in the slightest, at herself._

_She turned and ran but he only stepped forward and pushed her to her side._

Cody held on as tightly as she could to Loki as she arched in his arms. Loki cried out as her walls clenched around his cock. He became feral as he growled into her neck and spread her legs further apart. He felt his old self resurface as his eyes began to glow. He was unprepared as Thanos reached him only part of the way.

_“How sentimental,” he whispered into the back of his mind, “The king has finally taken a queen and his planting his seed for an heir.”_

“No.”

He surged his while body, casting Thanos out as he hunched over Cody. He came, sinking his teeth into her neck as she started to fall weak.

_She was able to turn her body to the side to protect them from the fall but not enough to stop Charlie from kicking her directly in the face. She cried out as her back arched. Charlie yelled as he sent his boot into Cody’s stomach countless times._

_“Stupid fucking whore,” he spat._

Loki shuddered as he pulled himself out of Cody and kissed her neck where the bite was healing. She moaned and felt a tingle throughout her body as the shaking of the bed underneath her became noticeable.

“Come, we must go now.”

He pulled her into his arms and from the bed as the wall exploded. Bits of drywall and debris struck them as Cody and Loki were sent falling apart into the farthest wall. Loki crashed into the door of the washroom as Cody hit her head hard on the wall near the balcony. The impact made the glass shatter as she landed on the floor.

Her ears rang as she felt blood drip from her head. She was completely immobile as she heard shouts and heavy boots enter the room. There was a sharp rush of wind that made her cold as something flew through the air and knocked Loki out. She saw a bit of silver rush into the washroom for Loki as she fought to stay awake.

“…the balcony.”

Blue flooded her vision as she looked up to a pair of deep blue eyes. He pulled the curtains from the banner and covered her body as he lifted her from the floor.

“She’s still alive.”

_She could remember anything else as pain coursed through her body._

_“I knew something was up.”_

_Cody gasped for air as she hunched over. Every time she moved, more of her hurt. She watched as Charlie moved away to the fridge for a beer. She clawed and slinked to her bag as she felt blood trickle from her face._

_“You really think you’re going somewhere.”_

_“No, you are,” she said turning around with a loaded pistol pointed to Charlie._

_“You don’t ha…”_

_She pulled the trigger and sent each bullet into Charlie as he crashed into the fridge. Her whole arm was shaking as she saw a bit of smoke rising from the barrel of the pistol. She dropped it and reached for her phone in the side of her bag. She dialed 911 and cried out as she felt a terrible jolt of pain race through her side and between her legs._

_She fainted, hearing the operator ask for her as she saw the blood between her legs…_


	5. Falling apart

 

_Beep… beep… beep…_

The smell was sterile and she felt so warm.

_Beep… beep…_

There were voices. Some of concern, others arguing. None were soft and agreeing and it felt new to her. Her eyes were heavy as she moaned.

“Lok…”

Everything felt so heavy and steadfast. She felt something at her wrists as she lifted her eyelids a fraction. The light hurt so much as she looked to the restraints at her arms. She began to cry as she pulled. The voices turned to her as she wanted to fight them off.

“Miss? Can you tell me what day it is? Tell me your name.”

“L…”

“What is it? Is it Lily?”

“No, no…”

“It’s okay, just take your time and we’ll give you something for the pain.”

She pulled more as she focused her pain elsewhere and filled her lungs.

“Where’s Loki? Pleas…”

She broke out in a sob as a needle pricked her skin.

“Try and calm for…”

“LOKI!”

Her skin felt warm as the bands on her arms glowed.

“She’s melting the bars!”

The blurs of color stepped back in panic as the familiar shade of silver rushed to the bed.

“She’s been made Asgardian; no one touches her yet. She had manifested powers.”

She blinked furiously as she made out shining silver, like armor and long blond hair. He reached forward to Cody with a glowing hand as everything around her smoothed out. She sighed feeling at piece as she passed out.

Everyone in the room took a breath after holding it for so long. Thor sighed as he pushed back the hair from Cody’s face as she slept.

“She is fine, she will be out for the next few hours, so I hope your second casket will be done by then, little ones.”

“Please,” scoffed Fitz as he brushed his hair back, “We were lucky with the first one out of the prototype from the blueprints from the main Helicarrier. Loki will be held until he wakes up but I suggest moving her to, I don’t know, another place in the facility.”

“How far,” asked Thor.

“Possibly as far away from Loki as we can manage. For starters, not have them in the same room.”

Fitz looked over his shoulder to Jemma as she took a few more vials of blood from Loki as he was still unconscious from the blow from Mjolnir.

“You know I am more qualified for things like this Fitz. I feel like Meredith Grey, it’s insulting.”

“What, Jemma? You wanted to stay back at the academy. It’s nothing but rumble now thanks to that psycho and we were lucky enough to get out when we did.”

“Have care in your words, young Fitz. That is my brother.”

“Yeah, fine. _The royal psycho._ ”

“Oh, Fitz. For heaven’s sake, you need to calm down. Now with Loki somewhat neutralized, the earth will slowly go back to the way it was before. The Chitauri are slowly dying out. Mr. Stark has his tower back with his Vision program fully intact and with the rest of Shield, things will be fixed again.”

“Indeed. His cell is protected by my own precautions, should anyone want to bring harm to him or to her.”

“Why her,” ask Simmons, stepping out of the way as Loki’s bed was moved into the hall and down to his cell by armed escorts.

“There were reports of her sightings for months. She may have been prisoner but others may seem that she is more. She is married to him. Something else happened that we will not know until one of them wakes up. Do you know who she is?”

“No. Loki’s magic has halted us from that. She has the fingerprints of 10 different people, all of which are dead and look nothing like her and he messed with her DNA as well. She was no germs in her system whatsoever. No diseases, no human abnormalities, clean blood to the fullest extent. If she were to die right now, there would be a lot of people to live a full life on her organs alone.”

“Thanks, Simmons. That was optimistically grim.”

Fitz reached out to the cooler, melted parts of the bed.

“Did Loki give her the powers intentionally?”

“No but I think they unleashed something hidden. Let’s hope that she is a cooperative woman when she wakes. He battles with maximum causalities so whatever he did to her may have some drawbacks and I don’t want to jeopardize your safety for that.”

“I heard that she leapt from the tower. Is that even possible?”

“There was only a slight hemorrhage but Dr. Strange dismissed any surgery when we found out that she was healing herself.”

“These marks,” said Thor as he pointed to Cody’s wrist, “Loki caught have cursed her with prolonged life. It has been used before with slave trades of Thanos.”

“What’s Thanos?”

“Nothing to concern yourself now, young ones.”

The doors to the medical bay opened again as the Captain made the whole group turn.

“Status report.”

“Madam Suresh isn’t going to be here for another few hours. She went to the tower and found um… parts.”

“Parts?”

“Body… parts, Sir Rogers. None of which have been completed yet. She had to stop.”

“What else? Fitz?”

“Loki’s being transported to the first casket and will be secured when he wakes.”

“I did find traces of the Tesseract in his blood at dangerous levels similar to those compared to Agent Burton when he was infected, only thing is that Loki’s bond is far too strong and may need…”

“Need what?”

“Best guess is blood transfusions, either from Thor or Jane Doe.”

“Did you find out who she is yet?”

“No, sir. Loki completely changed several parts of her anatomy. She may have a child somewhere. There was some scaring on her uterus.”

“Steven, there were no children in Stark Tower. There could be a chance that it perished.”

_“Now what?”_

_“He still has her.”_

_None of them could watch as Loki had the woman pinned to the roof. They had been trying to figure out her patterns. Wherever she went, so did Loki. Clint sighed as he radioed the rest of the ambush teams ready to move into positions._

_“Steve, Ross is on the line.”_

_“Tell him I’m out.”_

_“’Kay.”_

_Steven grabbed Clint’s binoculars and watched the tower as Loki moved beside the woman. He could see tears in her eyes as she got to her feet and took a step forward to the edge of the tower._

_“No. What is she doing?”_

_“Hold on, sir. We have visual. She’s running.”_

_Steven remembered how quickly she ran for the edge and leapt down to the streets below._

_“No!”_

_“Someone tell me what the hell is happening!”_

_Clint heard the parts of the building that smashed from Steve’s fists as he let out his anger._

_“Ross, the woman jumped from the tower and landed on a Prius, at least what’s left of her. Loki went back. Wait…”_

_Both men looked as a few of the Chitauri collected bits and pieces of her onto a rimmed stretcher._

_“What are they doing?”_

_“That’s where all the bodily caught go. Sir, they took her back into the tower. What should we do?”_

_Steve was silent as Clint turned off his radio._

_“She was lucky, Clint. She was still intact when she went down.”_

_“Everyone will be in position at sundown. We take out the ground floor first. Half of our wave goes out into the streets and does damage control. The other half takes out communication and works our way from the ground up. Mark who’s controlled and arrest the rest.”_

_Steven could only stay to himself as they waited two blocks away for the rest of what was left of Shield._

_“Orders from Ross. He wants Loki alive.”_

_“We’ll do what we can. Thor will have to take Loki if he wants him alive.”_

_“Rogers,” said Thor as he placed his hand on his shoulder, “there was nothing we could do for her.”_

_“We will now.”_

_As soon as the sun set over the edge of the city, Shield moved in as the plan was executed down to the last detail. Floor by floor, they tagged who was turned and who was not. After a while, they made their way up to the penthouse as they were stopped by a barrier of energy was Thor was afraid to touch._

_“Here,” said Clint as he placed C4 on the wall outside the master suite, “every floor is cleared. If he hasn’t fled yet, he’ll be there.”_

_“Get the others back, I don’t want any more casualties than we already have,” said Steve as he pushed Clint back._

_The beep sent everyone back as Thor shielded his eyes from the pending blast. The bomb destroyed the wall as he was the first into the room. Steve was next, ready to take Loki as a moan near the balcony got his attention. A woman turned as blood ran from her head to the white carpet._

_“Civilian near the balcony!”_

_He stooped down as he turned the woman to her back. He was shocked to see the same one that had jumped from the highest point of Stark Tower to her death. He was almost distracted by her near nakedness as he pulled the curtains down to give her some decency. Clint rushed to his side as he felt for a pulse._

_“She’s still alive, Cap. Didn’t she die?”_

_“I guess not. Let’s go. Have trauma ready…”_

“She’s alive now and that’s what matters. Dr. Suresh will be here soon and we’ll give her time if need be. We saw the bodies too, Gemma.”

“Yes, sir.”

_There was blood pouring from her head, not her head but her jaw as someone covered it with a bandage. The morphine was making her spacey over the hours as she pulled at the metal cuff on her wrist. Voices warped as she tried to make sense of everything._

_“Where…”_

_It was the only thing she heard until rapid beeping filled her ears. The voices blared in her ears as she tried to look down to her baby but all she could see was darkness._

_-_

_The steady beep returned as Cody opened her eyes. Her eyes went for the door to the nurse in the scrubs as she constantly looked at a chart._

_“Hell…”_

_Her throat was too dry to say anything as she kept her head to the pillow. She had to be in the city hospital. The nurse got to her feet, saying nothing and walked from the room. Her whole body ached as she tried to move but she had to check the baby._

_Two men in cheap suits filed into the room. Her eyes went for the badges hanging off of their chest._

_“Mrs. Colgate Scott?”_

_It was strange to hear her real name._

_“Yes?”_

_“Were you at home the night of March 18 th, the same night your husband, Charles Scott, was shot?”_

_“He came after me. I was leaving…”_

_“Answer the question, Mrs. Scott. Were you or were you not in the house when your husband was shot?”_

_“Yes, I was!”_

_The second cop held up the gun she used to stop Charles._

_“Is this or is this not your unregistered revolver, Mrs. Scott?”_

_“It was self-defense!”_

_“Did you or did you not…”_

_“Yes! I shot that fucking monster!”_

_“Thank you, Mrs. Scott, for your cooperation. Recuff her.”_

_She watched in disbelief as her arm was cuffed to the metal bar on the side of the bed. A uniformed officer appeared near the door showing her no sympathy as her rights were read to her. She reached for the handcuff but stopped. The movement of her hand was too careful and fast. She used all of her strength to look down to her stomach, no longer round or sticking out._

_“Where’s my baby?”_

_“Do you understand your rights as they have been explained to you?”_

_“Where’s my baby?! Tell where he is!”_

_“Mrs. Scott…”_

_“NO!”_

_She shoved the first cop to the floor as she pulled at the cuff. She screamed at the top of her lungs, fighting every possible hand as everyone from the officer to the second detective and the nurse tried to hold her down to the bed. She almost won for a second until she saw the needle of something she knew was a sedative._

_“I’m not going to jail for killing that sonofabitch! You can’t keep me from my baby!”_

_“Your baby is dead!”_

_She stopped fighting as the air was taken from her. Cody felt herself sinking in the bed, not only from the five pairs of hands holding her down but feeling dragged down as she felt the last thing she had in the world taken from her._

_She opened her mouth and cried. The medicine was working so quickly and she had to let them know. They all had to know that she had nothing left in the world and they would never understand. Not even the shining golden being, grinning from ear to ear on the other side of the room._

Her eyes opened as she shrieked in grief. Her cries echoed from the clear walls as she tumbled out of bed. Cody sobbed into the side of the bed as the hiss of the doors were oblivious to her.

“Miss?”

She turned at the sound of an older woman as she held up her hands to show that she meant no harm.

“Hello, it is good to see you finally awake. Welcome back to the world.”

Her voice was so soothing and motherly, she never remembered a thing like it. She was a bit older than she looked as she stooped down and held out her hand to Cody.

“May I?”

Cody only accepted her hand as she was helped off of her feet and placed back on the bed. She opened her mouth to speak but felt hoarse as she coughed and gasped for breath.

“Try not to fret, my dear. You have been screaming in your sleep for days on end and you are lucky.”

Cody felt the veins in her neck hum as her body was trying to repair itself.

“Ho..”

“You are safe now. It’s a disclosed location but you are safe, this I can promise you. Since you can’t speak, I’ll do my best to fill you in. You were retrieved almost two weeks ago from Stark Tower. You were out for most of it. You suffered a concussion but I’m guessing by the marks on your extremities that you were able to heal but your body was too tired from the process. Until your voice, we will do what we can to make you comfortable. That way you can be cleared and released to live your life again.”

Cody shook her head. The dark hair rained over her shoulders and her tattoos were still intact. The regular t-shirt and sweats felt strange against her skin since she was so used to Loki making her whatever he conjured.

“No? You don’t want to leave?”

She shook her head again and gestured for the woman to go back.

“You have no life? No family?”

_No._

Are you married? Have children?

_No._

She had completely forgotten as she shook her head frantically.

“You have a husband?”

Cody looked down to see the wedding band Loki gave her was gone. She pointed to her finger and grew distressed from not being able to speak.

“If you give us his name, we can find him.”

“L…”

“I have a pen. Here.”

She snatched the pen away and wrote on her hand, showing the woman.

“Loki? Loki is your husband?”

Cody held up her hand again and again until the woman backed away.

“Did you marry him willingly or did he force you?”

Cody dropped her one hand and huffed her breath in disbelief.

“He has used the power of his scepter to control a great amount of people and there was a chance that he forced you to marry him.”

Cody held up her hand to show off her missing wedding band then switched fingers to flip off the woman. She turned and laid on her side with her back facing the woman as she closed her eyes and focused on Loki.

“All I know is that he is detained for what he’s done. I even if I knew where he was, you would not be able to see him, not in the newer condition that you are in.”

_“Now, now. You are not use to your strength yet.”_

She looked over her shoulder past the doctor to the door. She was stronger now.

Cody got to her feet and ran full speed into the door as she pushed it from its hinges. She barreled into the hallway, knocking a few people to the ground as she ran in a random direction. She felt a pull, helping her turned down certain hallways as she coughed her pain away the pain in her throat. Cody ran down the halls as they turned red from the flashing sirens warning of her escape.

Her scenes lead her to a lowering steel door with two armed men with rifles pointed at her.

_“Do not engage! I repeat do not engage the subject!”_

Cody ran faster than she ever ran before as she dropped to her side, sliding past the two guards and the steel door. She panted and was on her feet again as she looked around to the spaced out and barricaded cells around her.

“Loki?”

She set off in a run again until she felt his presence grow stronger.

-

“Seriously, Loki. I have all day.”

“You’ve said that before, Soldier. I have no desire to speak with you.”

“Fine. Who’s the woman?”

“My wife and why do you care? She’s never coming back.”

It was all he would give her. He was quick to catch himself on several occasions when he wanted to speak her name but there were always cameras and guards watching his every move. Cody was his in every way and would stay that way, even if he never saw her again.

“Did you control her with the wedding band?”

Loki looked up to the sound of voices blaring from Steve’s radio.

“What’s the matter,” he snickered from inside his cell, “can’t keep ahold of your monsters? Just think of what would happen if I were to get loose.”

Steve rolled his eyes and pulled the shield from his back.

“I’m not so found of the things that come out.”

“Loki!”

Steve turned, seeing Cody through the other cells as she weaved in and out of the holding areas. She nearly tripped over herself as she turned and saw Loki dressed in sweat clothes similar to hers.

“Loki!”

Loki turned in his cell and felt a tear fall from his face as Cody ran for him.

“Cody! Look out!”

She was tackled to the floor as Steve tumbled over her.

“Stand down!”

“Fuck you!”

Cody pushed his face up far enough, letting him go as she brought her closed fist up and punched Steve off of her. She grabbed the key from his belt and raced to the panel on the side of Loki’s cell as Steve yelled after.

She swiped the card and yanked it away as the doors closed behind her. The air lock closed her in as she punched at the titanium walls.

“Hello?!”

The door behind her opened as she turned and faced Loki. He looked to her like she was a ghost. Cody ran into his arms as he wrapped them around her and held her close.

“Seriously, I thought you were going to be more than excited to see me.”

“They told me you were close to death, that you were never going to wake up. I thought the process had killed you.”

“Well, there’s the government for you.”

He laughed, shedding a few tears as he pulled Cody close and kissed her as if she were about to die. That’s what he was told. More lies to break him but he never did and now he never would.

“How sentimental.”

Loki broke the kiss as he looked over his shoulder to a man standing in a set of BDU’s and a look at could fuel hell.

“So it seems that she wasn’t locked down properly.”

“She was put in a room, wasn’t it locked down?”

“I guess we’ll just need to tighten our defenses now won’t we, Loki?”

“You touch her and I will kill you, General.”

“I’ll pull her out kicking and screaming if need be, monster. I’ll also make sure you two never see the light of day again.”

Cody let go of Loki and walked to the edge of the cell where the General stood.

“And who the fuck are you to say?”

“General Thaddeus Ross, I was responsible for you but the minute you compromised my facilities. Now you get to cozy up with your husband until SWAT gets here.”

“Sir, the second casket still isn’t finished yet. The space will be enough to hold the both of them in the time being.”

“She’s still unstable and she needs more testing.”

“My point exactly. She’ll stay in there until newer cell is finish then we’ll move her.”

“Or I can just stay where I am and not rip another door off of your facility.”

“I’m not sure what angle you are playing but I’ll be damn if I let someone like you take my operations down.”

“I do the testing, and whatever you want, then in return, I’ll stay in your stupid pigpen.”

“Tell them to turn the cameras off,” Loki whispered into her ear.

“What? Why?”

“Do it before they leave.”

“And I want you to turn off the cameras. The cells are enough. You can always waste your energy on something else. It’s not like we’re going anywhere,” she said holding up Steve’s badge.

Cody kept her eyes on Ross, keeping as calm as she could as he sneered in her direction and turned to the open hall behind him.

“I dare you step out of line again. I’ll make sure you see, hell. Let’s go, Rogers. You need another key to get them out.”

She could hear the doors close behind them as the walls started to shift closing them off from the other cells. Cody jumped as she felt Loki arms around her. She turned in his arms and would have passed out if not for her new strength. Her nerves were rattled completely as she felt Loki’s hands trying to wander up the back of her shirt. She grabbed Loki’s hands as her lip started to tremble.

“No-not right now, Loki…”

She broken down, sobbing into his chest as he lifted her from her feet and carried her to his bed. He wanted her so badly but he was thankful that she was there now with him. The lights of the cell began to dim. He looked up to the cameras as the light powered down besides the lens, giving him the first bit of privacy in the last few weeks.

He pulled off his shirt and climbed into the bed next to Cody as he pulled the covers over them. He wasn’t sure of what to say or how to explain himself, he would worry about that later. He held Cody, praying that it wasn’t a cruel dream. Cody never said anything else to him as she fell asleep in his arms. Loki was almost asleep as well as he felt the familiar cold presence behind him.

Thanos looked through his mirror, seeing the failed conqueror and his whore queen together again. He stooped down to the no longer earth woman that had change the stone heart of the frost giant bastard.

“Pathetic mortal.”

He smiled to the inked tattoos that covered her body and more to the added Chitauri power that was flowing through her body. He chuckled silently in satisfaction as he closed himself off to his sanctuary.

“Perhaps the Queen will be useful after all…”


	6. Voices

 

Cody turned to her side as the faint whirr of mechanical wheels filled her ears. Maybe it was Loki’s special machine again and the familiar warmth behind her made her smile as she turned to Loki whom was close to waking. She stroked his face as he moaned in his sleep. She pulled herself closer to him as she wrapped her arm around his waist. Her cold hand was curious enough as it wandered down to the waist band of his sweatpants.

Loki stopped her hand as a mischievous grin crossed his face. Loki turned her to her back and pressed his lips to hers as he grinded his hips into her thighs.

“Tell me what you want, Cody.”

“I thought I made it clear,” she whispered as she pulled her shirt of her head with Loki watching it slipping through her fingers, “Do you need a reminder?”

“Perhaps…”

He gasped as Cody slipped her hand inside of Loki pants and gripped the life from him. Her new strength nearly made him see stars as he closed his hand over hers.

“Tighter, my dear. I want to feel you.”

“Now that you mention it, I do have something that’s tighter.”

Loki collected both of her hands into his own as he pinned them above her head and thrusted into her as she cried out. Loki shuddered, missing the feel of her as he let her go and snaked his arm under her. Cody wrapped her hand around his hip and grabbed the back of his neck to pull him down and kiss his lips.

Loki snaked his hips, still believing that she was nearly out of his reach but here she was. There could be no way that she was gone. He opened his eyes to take in every bit of her. The arch of her neck as she cried out his name, the heave of her chest as she drew in what breath she could. He pressed his thumb to her clit as she tightened around him.

There was no Thanos, no Chitauri, only them as he felt her coming undone around his cock.

-

Jemma sat back and scratched her head. She had mental and physical notes on the woman’s blood spread out in front of her as it was all a big puzzle and none of the pieces were fitting. Everyone was looking for answers and she didn’t have any. She did from the samples of blood but she had to see Dr. Suresh and the woman first.

Jemma collected her papers and as much of her equipped samples as she could carry. Fitz was mechanics and had a complete hatred for Loki, he would not have understood the actions she was about to take. She didn’t care too much for Loki either but she had to know the woman first before she came to any rash decisions.

The invasion brought nothing but death and misery. Something good had to come from this, it just had to. Jemma loaded her things into her crate and rolled it down the halls of the compound. She kept her eyes forward but down to her screen as she kept shy of many people. Ross terrified her, Fitz would nearly unattached to her side and the Captain was always looking for answers. Most times, she would stay near Stark as a safety precaution and to her luck, he never knew she was there. She hurried to one of the open bays as the hanger doors were opened for the day.

Jemma found Dr. Suresh alone in her thoughts as she pulled her cart to a stop next to the aged woman.

“Good morning, Simmons.”

“Good morning, Dr. Suresh. There something I need to show you.”

“Is it about our guest?”

“Yes, but…”

“If she needs further testing, she has agreed to it.”

“It’s actually something that she doesn’t need to be tested for again.”

Jemma reached into her side bag for the test results. Dr. Suresh scanned the charts with a smile to her face.

“I know this isn’t the best time, Ma’am but I was hoping that in these circumstances that we only monitor this due the consequences they may want for her.”

“I actually agree, Miss Simmons.”

“May we keep this between the two of us for now?”

“For now but things will progress exponentially if things are not in our favor.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Simmons turned around and picked an unoccupied table as she spread her things to her liking. Every second from here on out was now against them.

-

“Alright! Let’s go!”

Guards appeared with guns and two sets of cuffs for both Loki and Cody. Cody sat against the walls of the cell as she stroked at Loki’s hair. It was strange to be together again at the price of imprisonment.

“Come on. Let’s go. I promised.”

“I know…”

Both knelt on separate side of the cells with their hands on their heads like Cody had explained. If they complied, they could stay together. Loki obeyed as he allowed the metal cuffs secured his hands behind his back. Both were pulled to their feet and lead away with Cody being first. The team of twenty started their journey down the hall as Loki followed his woman. At the start of this, he would have fought them all victoriously and fled with her but now he only wanted her safe.

_Anything could happen, anything…_

Cody was distracted by her thoughts and her rumbling stomach as she marched forward with the rest of the group. They walked outside as Cody’s eyes were harshly met with the morning sun. She looked around, seeing it was some sort of Army base by the evidence of the scorched concrete. Radio commands filled her ears as they were led into separate hangers. Cody looked over her shoulder to Loki as he met her eyes.

 _Please don’t do anything stupid,_ she thought hoping Loki would read her thoughts.

He responded to her with a wink as he disappeared from her sight. The guards began to break off as she was led underground to more tunnels and personnel with clipboards and lab coats. She stopped as she was meet with the woman that was in her cell the previous day.

“Hello, my dear. Good to see you up and about.”

“I’m sorry for freaking you out yesterday.”

“I am still in one piece my dear and I am glad to see you in proper use of your motor skills.”

“Thank you?”

Cody was uncuffed and moved to an examination table as she felt Loki at the back of her mind.

_Don’t tell them anything that could let them tear us apart._

It was gone in an instant as she focused on the young woman preparing trays upon trays of sterilized equipment, counting on her fingers in an abnormal pep in her step. She smiled and stepped back from the table as she turned and faced Cody with her hand extended out.

“Hello! Jemma Simmons at your service. We’ve been monitoring you as you slept.”

Her smile eased her a bit as she looked to the doctor.

“How long have I been out?”

“Only two weeks.”

“Really?”

“Yes but I’m going to stop myself before I get too excited and verbally leave you behind. Firstly, do you have a name.”

“Cody.”

“First or surname?”

“Just Cody. I agreed to testing, not speed dating. That was the deal I closed with Ross.”

“Jemma, enough with the Twislers. I can take over from here.”

“Sorry,” she blushed as she hid her red package in a random drawer.

The doctor handed a gown to Cody and led her behind a curtain to change.

“Today we will be doing a great array of tests but everything will be basic and there was something we also wish to discuss with you as well.”

Jemma looked up to the doctor, knowing it wasn’t time to tell Cody.

“What’s wrong?”

“There has been a lot of talk about what was happening when Loki invaded New York when… uh… when they pulled you from the tower, we examined you both to an extent and we believe you both infected.”

“What do you mean infected?”

“Loki has some impurities in his blood but we are sure with a few blood transfusions that he will be clean.”

“You said both of us. What happened to me?”

Cody hopped back onto the table in her gown as more people arrived in lab coats.

“Whatever made his blood impure is also lingering in your system but hasn’t bonded with you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Would you by any chance have been bitten by a tick?”

“Jemma!”

“It’s not my fault I haven’t spent in 35 hours! I’m just trying to help!”

“Actually, when I was in the tower, those things, whatever they were, they injected me with their blood.”

“That seems odd.”

“Loki said they were in heat and were making me fertile. He saved me from them.”

It wasn’t a lie. She looked up to Jemma, preparing the first of many needles as she took a breath and moved to the examination table, placing a bucket in Cody’s lap.

“What’s this for?”

“For what I’m about to inject into you. Think of it as a non-lethal Draino that will clean you out. It’s a mix of B12, protein, a few Omegs-3s, some super penicillin and strawberry for flavor.”

“Holy shit, Jane Goodall, is that it? I’m not going to shit myself, am I?”

“Oh, not I just need to insert in the proper end. Tilt your head. You’ll feel dizzy and a bit out of breath but after a few minutes, you’ll be all clean and ready to help Loki. We haven’t been able to find Thor, what with all the excitement and needs a tailored blood, with you will.”

“So once I’m clean, he’ll take my blood.”

“That’s the idea if you are ready for it.”

The doctor shook her head as she took her place behind Cody. She shook her head and exposed her neck as it was swabbed and pricked with the needle.

“You haven’t eaten today have you?”

“No, why?”

“Just need to know if you need a bigger bucket. Can I have some water bottles and mouthwash? She’s going to be dehydrated.”

She pulled the needle from Cody’s neck and stepped out of the way, waiting for her special serum to work. Cody felt her arms shake and tingle as something was pushed up from the tips of her extremities to her torso and the sick feeling in her stomach. She opened her mouth to ask a question but felt her voice taken from her as her throat felt like it was expanding. Dr. Suresh pulled Cody’s hair back just in time as Cody hunched over and got sick into the bucket.

Cody was out for two weeks and couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten. She didn’t know that she was filling the bucket with but it all smell horrid and made her want to die. She closed her eyes and focused on Loki, it was the only thing helping her. Jemma was true to her word as Cody was helped to her side as her head spun wildly. It took a good bottle or two to fully get her mouth clean and she wasn’t used to the mouthwash that was handed to her.

She felt so tired as her eyes started to sink shut as the doctor knelt to the side of the bed.

“Cody, we are going to let you rest but we are going to check your blood. You have my word. No one is going to touch you on my watch.”

Cody didn’t have time to answer as a blanket was pulled over her shoulders.

_Cody didn’t wish to get out of the bed but she had to. Shackles were put on her hand and legs as she was wheeled to the discharge circle and waited for the county van. Before she knew it was she hauled away in a pair of musty scrubs as her mugshot was taken. For two weeks, she waited with no one telling her what was to become of her until one morning when a floppy looking man came into her holding space and sat an old briefcase on the table she was chained to._

_“Mrs. Scott, my name is Norman Maelstrom and I am your attorney.”_

_“I don’t know why you are here. You missed the woman hater’s club meeting.”_

_“Look, I’ll be honest. It doesn’t look good for you. You have no idea what they want to do.”_

_“Are you fucking kidding me? I thought you were supposed to be helping me!”_

_“Mrs. Scott, if you could please keep your voice down. This can go one of two ways. Plead guilty to first degree manslaughter and get some jail time or this goes to jury and you could face the death penalty.”_

_“So I shot my husband because I was trying to protect myself from getting killed and he gets away with beating me because he was a fucking hometown hero?! He killed my baby!”_

_“You really shouldn’t speak so badly about those boys in uniform. They gave their lives for their country.”_

_Cody only sat in her chair and let the unfairness that was her life carry her on into the courtroom with nothing to lose. She sat in her orange jumpsuit and was given the choice. Life or death. She rolled her eyes and thought about what she had left, which was herself. There were no parents, wherever they were. No more Charles, no more bastard in her stomach and no more reason to try and fight for wasn’t hers. She never really belonged anywhere anyways._

_“What say you.”_

_“Guilty,” she choked so she wouldn’t say anything smart ass._

_Ten years, only because some of the jury felt sorry for her._

_Ten years and she would be free as the system fucked her of her freedom. She didn’t resist the cuffs or the three prison guard that shackled her to the van floor as they all squeezed into the small van. She occupied her time during the two hour ride to the upstate prison that was going to be her new home by listening to the panicked voices of the New York radio stations. The guards talked to one another as she closed her eyes._

_“I wish I had another chance,” she whispered to herself as she began to drift._

_The van jerked as blasts of blue and black hit the interstate where they were. She didn’t have enough time to see the second wave of blasts as the van was flipped into the traffic heading the other way. She only remembered tucking herself as tightly as she could as the sounds of the screaming guards disappeared._

_She gasped seeing the guards died underneath her. Her wrist ached as her thumb became dislocated from the accident. She screamed out in pain as she pulled her hand free and watched the panic on the outside of the van. She was lucky to find the keys on the nearest guard as it took forever to get herself loose. She looked to her stomach feeling something strange. She opened her jumpsuit to see the growing patch of festering skin._

_“What the fuck?”_

_She cried out as the festering turned charred as if she was struck by lightning._

_“Got you!”_

_Cody screamed to the large blue hand that reached out and dragged her out of the van._

She continued to scream in fear and pain as Dr. Suresh moved back from the edge of the table.

“What the hell was that?”

“Shit,” she groaned as she held her side.

She looked down to the side of her stomach, charred just like in her dream. Cody gasped for breath as the wall behind her smashed to pieces. She looked over her shoulder to Loki as he glared to the doctor.

“What have you done to her?”

She looked between her legs to Dr. Suresh as she held the clean piercing between her fingers. Loki paced for her as Cody moved her legs from the stir-ups and put herself between the two of them.

“Stop it!”

“They hurt you. I could feel it, Cody!”

“You told us,” spoke up Dr. Suresh as she placed the piercing into a sterile metal container.

“What did you do?”

“I have seen what you have done. You do not scare me anymore, Loki.”

“I will do more than fill you with fear.”

Loki’s hands glowed as he set his eyes on the doctors. Cody grabbed a bit of medical equipment and swung, knocking him back through the hole he created.

“ _Such strength…_ ”

“What?”

She turned to the sound of the voice from her dream as gunmen stormed the lab with rifles pointed to her. She put up her hands in surrender, seeing that her glowing hands were making the ceiling above her crumble. She was too distracted to see the end of a rifle knock her out. Steve caught her as she fell into his arms.

“Was that necessary?”

“Touch her again, soldier,” groaned Loki from the floor, “and I will cleave off your hands.”

Steve pulled the issued Icer and shot Loki in his chest as he was frozen for the moment. He pulled out his radio for more guards, meeting the eyes of the doctor as she smoothed out her apron.

“What happened?”

“We had to keep them separate. We had him under and gave him something so he could tell us how he enhanced her.”

“What did you get?”

“For one thing, she used to be blonde. She had an STD but she didn’t know. She also had something added to her.”

“Added.”

“He put a genital piercing on her, sir, and I can already tell that the metal isn’t of this earth.”

“Wait, wait. She he used Chitauri metal to… What the hell was going through his head? Wait, what about her?”

“I figured she didn’t want it in the first place, so extended the courtesy of taking it out. The minute it lost contact with her, something sparked from the metal and struck her. We may not know what happened with her until we get her back on the table.”

“Not gonna happen,” said Ross as he commanded both prisoners back to their cell, “She’s lucky the second cell isn’t finished.”

“This wasn’t her doing. She saved me.”

“She is none of my concern and you are lucky I don’t take the rank out from under you, Dr. Suresh. I want them under 24/7 watch. Rogers, you’re first.”

-

“I hope you know that you fucked everything up for us.”

She could hear the cameras come back to life behind her as she pulled on the last of her clothes. She knew after what Loki did, that she would be taken away from him after she begged for Ross not to take them apart. Everyone knew she willingly married Loki, meaning she was going to be treated differently but she didn’t care.

“My apologies for trying to protect my wife,” he snared as he reclined on his bed, “Come here.”

“Fuck you, Loki. I’m not in the mood.”

She crossed her arms and watched Steve at the desk a few yards away. She was able to catch him looking at her a few times as he went back to his book.

“I wonder if he can hear us.”

“Stop it, Loki. He’s only doing his job.”

“Soldier! Have you felt a woman’s warmth yet or are you interested in taking mine? I’ve seen you looking!”

“Shut the fuck up, man.”

Her head began to throb as she rubbed the side of her head. There was a hum of what she thought was a headache as she closed her eyes and felt a strange presence.

“ _Talk, talk, talk. He doesn’t ever close his mouth but to spill false words._ ”

“I know.”

“What?”

“ _It’s working…_ ”

“Not if it’s giving me a fucking headache.”

“Language, please,” shouted Steve from the outside of the cell.

“Cody?”

Loki moved from the bed as Cody began to sway on her feet. He was behind her in a second as she tried to push him away.

“Seriously, not right now. My head’s killing me.”

“Is there a problem?”

Loki sneered over Cody’s shoulder to him as he smiled.

“Perhaps you should mind your own business.”

“Cut it out.”

Loki ignored her and wrapped his arm around her waist and toyed with the front of her pants.

“Loki, are you kidding me? You’re really willing to do that to her after what she’s been through?”

“Believe me, Rogers, its nothing that she doesn’t already want.”

He snaked his hand past the waist band of her pants and stroked as her clit as Cody tried to fight him off. With a few strokes, she shamefully gave in and closed her eyes so that Steve would see how she reacted. She braced herself against the glass and pushed her hips back to Loki’s hips as his erection begged to be free against her back.

Loki chuckled, snaking his hand up her tank top all while keeping eyes contact with Steve. Steve clenched his fists and did everything in his power to stay in the vicinity of the cell as he was ordered to do. Heaven forbid he walked away, leaving Loki completely alone with Cody. Loki buried his face into the side of Cody’s neck as she arched in his arms.

“Do you think you could ever please a woman in this way? I can image you now in a blunder try to please her. So scared and undexterous…”

Cody held her breath and focus on throwing her arm back as she struck Loki in his face.

“I said to leave him alone!”

“You don’t get to tell…”

Cody brought her foot up and sent Loki against the other side of the cell as Steve reached for his radio. Cody slumped against the side of the cell as Loki made his way back to her. He scooped her up from the floor and placed her on the bed, stripping her until she was bare for Steve to see.

“Panel, this is Rogers. We need gas in the south cell!”

Loki pulled Cody’s upper half up from the bed as he worked himself between her legs and filled her. Cody was barely hlding on as her mind fogged with the presence again. She was quickly switching back and forth between her mind and the cell.

“ _Such a boy to try and tame a feral creature. He should know that he could bleed…_ ”

“Gas in 30. Over.”

“That is all the time I will need.”

Loki snaked his hips against Cody’s as she dangled from his arms. She had needed Loki for so long but him fucking her, leaving her exposed in front of Steve and the rest of whomever was watching from the cameras was going to have major consequences. Loki traced his tongue to her chest as she grabbed the mattress underneath her.

“Lok…”

Her voice was taken from her as he sank his teeth into the side of her neck and sucked at her skin. She whined and gasped, trying her best not to meet Steve’s eyes as she saw a mist rising from the ceiling. Loki rubbed at her clit, making her cry out as she was close to coming. As the mist touched her body, she could hear the voice hissing as if it touched something hot.

“ _Such animals and throwing stones. Weaponry to solve your problems. Not to worry, creature. I will be back for you…_ ”

She inhaled, passing out as Loki moaned rolling off to the side.

Steve was quick to cover his mouth with a mask and rush to the cell. He disabled the cameras and entered the cell as he clothed Cody and placed her into the bed. He made sure the covers were tucked to perfection and reached for the cuffs in his belt pocket. They expanded in every which direction as he only clothed Loki’s lower half and cuffed him to the floor.

“Rogers What the hell is going on?”

He rushed from the cell and locked everything down as well as turning on the cameras. He looked up to the nearest one, glaring to the lens.

“Something needs to be done and you know it, Ross.”

“Just do your job, Rogers.”

“I hope you enjoyed the show, General.”

Steve slumped in his chair and pulled off his mask. He sat up as straight as he could so that the front of his pants would ease himself. He could still hear Cody’s voice at the back of his mind as she arched in Loki’s arms.

95 and still a virgin. Nothing spurred him as much as she did and most of it wasn’t her doing. It was purely reactions and they all affected him to the point of taking her from the cell and taking her in front of Loki. He did what he could to clear his mind and think of another to pass the time until he was alone with his memories of Cody.

In the mirage of the cell shadows, Thanos was nearly exhausted from trying to make his way through to Cody. He didn’t even know about the connection to the Chitauri metal and the woman’s appendage.

“Interesting, indeed…”

He ached him his armor, not having emotions for such a weak and frail creature but with the Chitauri blood gone from her and the metal as well, the only thing he had was the link that the metal left behind on her stomach.

He did enjoy the few times that he took over Loki’s body to have fun with her but he never knew a mortal to hold such a connection between worlds. There was something about her indeed.

“I will make them all beg for death,” he groaned, rubbing himself through his leathers, “then I will show you how power can really feel, my lovely creature…”


	7. Unraveling bonds

 

_“Lara…”_

_She could hear a soft voice as something soft touched her cheek. The hand was smaller than she though._

_“Lara Croft. Don’t die yet.”_

She gasped waking as she tried looking around Hoppy. She could practically feel him at her neck like he did when they walked the streets of New York. She didn’t expect for Steve and Doctor Suresh.

“Cody, just stay still for me. I need to check you.”

She didn’t say anything as she laid back down. Her eyes tried to meet Steve’s as he cuffed both of her hands to the sides of the wheelchair.

“Where’s Loki?”

“In his cell.”

Cody was confused as she sat up and looked to the clear walls of a cell out of sight of Loki’s.

“I told him not to do anything stupid.”

“Let’s be honest, my dear. What he did was to try and protect you. I have been through worse situation. It’s refreshing to see his actions change.”

“Cool. I guess I’m not going to see him again.”

“Nonsense. Your blood is clean and we can start transfusions now.”

“She needs to eat or else her system will crash.”

“They’re preparing now and she can eat when she gets there. Keep your head on, Captain. I need to go ahead of you to make sure the Guard isn’t blocking my space.”

Dr. Suresh left without another word, leaving Steve to start wheeling Cody from her cell.

“I’m not sure whether to tell you to get comfortable or not.”

“I’m sorry about last night. You weren’t supposed to see that.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

If she did, he would have been reminded about her half naked body being pressed against the cell wall as Loki slowly played her like a violin and he would be impossibly hard like he was in that moment. He stopped and fixed himself discreetly, continuing as Cody tried to keep herself awake.

She didn’t try to talk to Steve or ask about Loki, knowing he would be pissed and also that Loki was probably strapped down to a table by God knows what powers that laid on the army base, seeing as she was starting to meet the Avengers at an alarming pace. Her head started to hurt and she knew she needed to get something in her system or else she would be no use to Loki.

The walls blended together, perhaps it was her fatigue or her new powers clashing with her body. She didn’t see a reason for the cuffs, seeing as she had no strength in her arms. Steve pushed her wheelchair out into the growing morning. Cody closed her eyes and felt the sunshine warming her skin as the wheels creaked underneath her. She pulled off her blanket and let the sun rays warm her skin. She could feel Steve watching her as the cuffs slid down her arms. It was nearly peaceful as they entered the hanger and moved towards the elevators to move underground.

Cody didn’t look up to meet any eyes of the army or medical staff, instead, she rubbed at the front of her head to ease her headache as she willed away the whispering voices. The chair stopped in the room she was in the previous day. Steve uncuffed her hands and placed her in the medical chair next to Loki’s. Her heart broke as she looked to him, sedated and covered in tubes as he fought whatever was trying to put him under. She could feel her lip trembling as she was hooked up to the same tubes and given the same injections as he did.

“Don’t put me under,” she told one of the doctors/

“You need to be put under,” said Steve, “Ross’ orders.”

“You put me under, I’ll kick your ass and his. He can have whatever word with me when we’re all done with this shit.”

“You need to watch your language.”

“You need to suck my dick…”

Steve was gone in the blink of an eye as Simmons shuffled to the chair with snacks and a few bottles of water.

“You don’t have any allergies, do you?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Well done! Gluten-free biscuits?”

“Sure.”

Cody found Simmons tolerable as she watched the blood travel from her to Loki. He moaned, prying his eyes open as he looked around the room. Cody took his hand reassuringly as he turned his head to her. He wheezed, trying to catch his breath as the doctors increased his dosage.

“Stop it, he’s hurting himself every time you do that. Just leave him alone.”

The doctors looked to one another and backed away from Loki’s chair as he tried to grip her hand with no success.

“You heard me, Loki. Just sleep. You need it. I’ll still be right here, I promise.”

She sat up in her seat and kissed Loki’s lips in everyone’s presence in the lab. He laughed as he ran his thumb over her knuckle.

“I need to stay awake. He’ll be there.”

“Who?”

“He’s taken a liking to you. If I fall asleep, he’ll only lau…”

Loki passed out, giving in to the sedatives as she felt a chill at her back.

_“I have and I can’t wait t…”_

She pushed the voice away and focused on eating the food with Simmons as the transfusions. After pushing three pints of blood, they finished as the tubes were gently pulled from her arms. Simmons smiled to the instantly healing incisions on Cody’s arms.

“What is it like having the powers of an Asgardian?”

“Weird, I guess. I nearly scared the crap out of Dr. Suresh the other day and I can only imagine what everyone else thinks of me.”

“It seemed from what I’ve seen so far that you didn’t care for what others thought.”

“I don’t but it still hurts a little.”

“Yes, I know the feeling entirely.”

“What gonna happen to him now?”

“He’ll go back to his cell and be back in a few days.”

“And I’m not gonna see him until then while you guys keep him under? How am I supposed to be with him if he’s locked up away from me?”

“Cody?”

She looked to Loki as he tried to wake again. She moved quickly from the chair before the guards opened the doors.

“Hey! You can always find me, Loki. I’ll always be here, I promise, okay?”

“Why? Because you love him?”

She turned her head up to Ross as she held Loki’s hand tightly.

“Why do you give a shit, Ross?”

“He doesn’t love you. You were just a trophy. We saw you jump.”

“Fuck you, Ross.”

“You two will not be together.”

“Um, no! If you keep me from him, I will tear off every brick from this place until I find him.”

“You seem to have a thing for monsters, don’t you?”

“ _More like bastards, carrying them having them suckle from her poisoned tit._ ”

“Fuck… you…”

She moaned as her whole head throbbed. Loki gripped her hand as he knew what was in her head. He tried to open his mouth to warn her but was still too weak. Cody shook herself until she focused on Ross. She knew what she was about to do would make sure she was secured away from Loki but she just couldn’t stop herself. Steve stepped between them as he tried to calm the tension.

“Cody, come on this isn’t the way to handle this.”

“No! He needs his fucking teeth kicked in! Who fucking made him boss?!”

“The surviving President Ellis and if you have a problem with my operations,” he chuckled pulling a thin gun from his belt, “I’ll have to put you down like the bitch you are.”

Cody didn’t realize her hand reached up and gripped the nose of the gun as Ross fired it. She could feel her mouth drop open, groaning at the pain shooting up her arm as she saw the veins in her hand turn blue. She fell to her knees, looking to Ross smiling as the voice in her head returned.

“ _Don’t you dare. I hoped you to be better than that, whore…_ ”

Cody felt something pull her up to her feet as the veins turned from blue to black as something looking like an infection coursed her arm. The blackness traveled in the veins back to her heart and her neck as she snatched the gun from Ross and turned it to dust. Ross and Steve moved back cautiously as Cody felt her eyes darken.

“Don’t touch her,” moaned Loki as he pulled the tubes from his arms and nose.

“Lockdown this room and get her locked up.”

“No, not you, Ross. Him,” he said pointing to Cody as a deep chuckled feel from her throat, “Get your men out or they will die.”

“Loki, what happened to her?”

“The same thing that happened to me. That’s not Cody anymore.”

Her whole body pulse with a phantom warmth as it was pulled from her feet and sent her crashing into the open hallway. She did what she could to fight, accidently grabbing on to one of the guards as his skin began to fester and crumble. She was completely terrified as voices shouted after her. She was stopped in her tracks as her body glowed out of nowhere, knowing it wasn’t her voice doing this to her.

“I’ve got her,” yelled a new voice.

A strong pair of arms wrapped around her and held her against the wall. Her black hand wrapped around a large metal band belonging to a familiar blonde glow that formed into a muscular man that yelled over his shoulder.

“Doctor Strange, what is this?”

The chuckle returned as Cody felt herself slipping.

“You all can’t have her. Your man of ice held her for so long.”

“Who are you, being? What have you done with the woman?”

“Your bastard groomed her, not knowing he was giving me a door to find her. Now she’ll be all mine as you all burn!”

“You must be the one they call Thanos.”

“Well done, Asgardian. Your planet shall burn after I reduce Earth to nothing.”

Cody reached back into her mind and saw the back of the thing that was in her head. She raced to him tackling him into his vibrant golden mirror with a roar. Loki watched as Cody’s flailing body stopped moving.

“No!”

Cody tumbled to the ground as the purple man turned up and greeted her with a smile.

“Well, well. Your powers certainly become you, my lovely creature.”

“What the fuck are you?”

“Your new master. Seize her!”

She turned to the sound of the Chitauri as Thanos passed through his mirror again.

He opened her eyes, looking to the ceiling as various people were surrounding the bed to get Cody’s body restrained. He turned her hands up, sending everyone in every direction as the bonds began to unravel.

“I’m going to peel the fresh from each and every one of you!”

He didn’t see the magician as his powers stopped Thanos, immobilizing him completely. Thanos’ voice became clear, possessing Cody as he tried to flail on the hospital.

“She’s no one to you! Let her go!”

“I’ll let her go when she’s dead!”

Cody backed away from the creatures as they stalked her. She brought up her fist to fight, only for the Chitauri to flinch in fear. She stopped and looked around the surrounding rocks around her, seeing the Chitauri hissing at her but kneeling to her as she stood confused.

“What the fuck?”

“ _Cody…_ ”

She turned to the mirror as the glass wasn’t solid again. She passed through the mirror as quickly as she could and ran to the voice calling for her.

Thanos stopped fighting, finding something of use as he looked to the doctor.

“Let’s see how endowed you are with your powers, magician, before I drag my beautiful creature to her death.”

Cody found Thanos again as she jumped on his back and wrapped her arm tightly around his neck as she broke the connection, making her body seize.

“Shit, someone help! Hold her down! I need to find out what he did!”

He formed his fingers to Cody’s sweating brow and pressed his head to hers as he searched for her.

“Cody!”

She used every bit of strength she had to send Thanos to the floor as he choked for breath. His large hands tried to reach for her but it only made her grip on him tighten the more he struggled.

“That’s right,” she grunted as his arms stopped swiping at her, “Stay down, fucker! You’re getting nothing from me!”

“Cody!”

A set of hands pulled her away from Thanos and back to her body as her brown eyes flew open. Her chest was on fire as she moaned in pain. A figure blocked her from the lights are she focused on the doctor above her.

“Welcome back…”

The voice was gone and everything was peaceful as her eyes rolled to the back of her head. There was shouting as she began to cease, sending the whole room into panic.

“Everyone shut up! I need to think!”

Dr. Suresh pushed her way through the crowd as she checked Cody.

“Her pupils are dilating, Dr. Strange.”

“There has to be a tumor somewhere. Thanos found it and made it rupture. Get us to an OR now!”

Dr. Strange enchanted the room, only letting anyone essential follow.

“She’s going into cardiac arrest!”

“Simmons, get on there!”

Simmons didn’t have the time to don gloves as she tried to keep Cody’s heart beating. Within minutes, everyone was prepped and ready for surgery. Steve was able to make the makeshift OR and stand guard for anyone trying to enter, including Loki whom was able to escape in the chaos and calmly sit across from Steve.

“I kicked your ass once, don’t make me do it again.”

“Did I or did I not defeat your Avengers, solider? Don’t be so bold now that you saw a naked woman for the first time in your life.”

“Right now, Cody’s naked on that table in the most biblical sense. Whatever you did to her let something bad through and if she doesn’t come out of this alive then that will be on your head. You already have a brother close to disowning you, you want to lose her?”

“I will not lose her!”

“Look at everything you’ve done. What do you think will happen when she finds out what you did when you weren’t with her on that roof. What will she think of you then?”

“She’ll stay by my side as promised.”

Steve rested against the med doors and smiled.

“We’ll see.”

Steven Strange worked as quickly as his hands would allow him as he pushed Cody’s hair follicles to the floor.

“Is there everything I should know about her before I open her? Allergies? Anything?”

Dr. Suresh looked to Jemma and nodded, knowing the doctor could keep a secret.

“She’s into her second week of pregnancy but we’re the only ones that know.”

“Why doesn’t anyone else know?”

“How do you think Ross will act when he finds out. He’ll use the fetus as a bargaining chip against Loki and Cody.”

“You saying Loki should be saved?”

“If anyone is being saved, it’s Cody and you damn well know it!”

“Fine. Does she know?”

“We,” said Dr. Suresh as she pointed her gloved finger to Jemma, herself and the doctor, “are the only ones that know. First we need to finish the transfusions and get them as far away from Ross as possible.”

“Agreed. I don’t care for him anyway.”

He was using every safe shortcut he knew as he sterilized, quickly cutting into the side of Cody’s head. He pushed the world away and drew out all of the tumor before it could kill her. He stepped back, letting Simmons work at her stitching as Steven pulled Suresh to the side.

“Mira, there’s a chance you may not be able to get her in time.”

“Nonsense, Tony is awake and getting New York back on track. All he has to do is get Ellis to move him to Russia and everything will be alright.”

“What about Cody or Loki? Loki will see prison whether Ross is here or not and he’ll do whatever it takes to be with Cody. You’ve seen what he can do.”

“Right now, let’s just get her to recovery and as far away from Loki as we can.”

A tear ran down Loki’s face as he used a spell to listen through the concrete walls. His heart was nearly beating from his chest as he was on his feet and started for the door. He stopped as Steve removed his shield and turned in the opposite direction.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my cell. I don’t want to give Ross any more reason to keep me away from her.”

 _Now that she’s carrying my child,_ he thought to himself as he calmly took his time to start back to his cell. It pained hi to walk in the other direction of his beloved Cody but both doctors were right. As long as Ross was close to them, he would take the baby and Cody away from him as he was thrown to the darkest and deepest of tunnels. This joyous little secret would be safe hidden behind his gentle growing smile.

Cody could only dream but there was no darkness, no purple man, nothing but what felt like clouds.

“ _It’s your subconsciousness._ ”

“ _What?_ ”

Cody turned to the soft, familiar voice behind her as she came face to face with the man she saw when she came to.

“ _Try not to worry._ ”

She sifted through her memories, finding bits and pieces of what had happened.

“ _You are safe now and that is what mattered._ ”

“ _Please just tell me._ ”

“ _Something possessed your body and tried to kill you. Presumably whomever was controlling Loki was trying to control you._ ”

“ _Who?_ ”

“ _I promise to tell you only if you rest. You just went through surgery. The being that possessed you found something in your brain and tried to use it as a kill switch._ ”

“ _Like what a tumor?_ ”

Steven was thrown for a loop as she tried not to pain.

“ _I had a tumor in my fucking head?!_ ”

“ _Calm down, please? I am a surgeon and was able to take it out. You are healing but I had to take off some hair in a bit of a quick fashion, so forgive me if you look rough when you wake._ ”

“ _Okay, okay…_ ”

She sat in her mind and looked around to the soft setting.

“ _Does it look cool, like, in a Milla Jovovich kinda way?_ ”

“ _I didn’t have a chance to look but I can fix it if you want._ ”

“ _No. No… No more magic, no more powers, no fucking guns in my face. Just get me somewhere calm, maybe quiet with a radio or something, I don’t care…_ ”

“ _I promise, as does Dr. Suresh and Jemma. You will be cared for._ ”

“ _Can you do one thing? Keep an eye on that one guy with the shield. Loki used me to hurt his feelings. I just want to let him know that it won’t happen again and everything is okay between us. I don’t need another enemy._ ”

“ _I can go now. Remember to rest, ma’am._ ”

“ _Cody. My name’s Cody._ ”

“ _That’s good. Your memory’s not been affected but I will have to open you again to make sure everything is cleared._ ”

“ _Okay, thank you…_ ”

Steven sighed as he returned to his body and tore away his scrubs. He turned down the hall to Captain as he guarded the door to Cody’s room.

“Out of everything that happened, she’s asking about you.”

“I don’t want to talk about her.”

“Tough. She wanted me to let you know that what happened won’t again and she wants everything to be okay with you. You two are friends after a whole week? I heard she was out for most of it.”

“Drop it, Strange.”

“You need someone to talk to. I don’t see why it can’t be her. She doesn’t have anyone else either.”

“She has Loki.”

“I sense jealousy or else you would have been back in Manhattan with Barton doing damage control.”

“Have a good night, Strange and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

“You need to rest or else you’ll start imagining things.”

Steve waited until a guard was able to take his spot but he didn’t dare leave the room. He reclined back in the chair on the side of the bed next to Cody. The breathing machine and the IV drip slowly put him to sleep as he took in everything he could of her. There was something about her that sparked his interest and he wasn’t about to explain himself to people that were on the Shield payroll. She was still untouched by most of the protocols and by Ross. Soon, Ross would find a way to bury both her and Loki, knowing Cody was only a victim in the mess.

Nothing mattered to Ross but a body count either dead or behind bars to keep his military reputation in check. Steve, in turn would try to ask Tony to hide her deep in the system, seeing as how Tony had the resources. Just a few days and he didn’t know why he was drawn to Cody. Steve closed his eyes, willing himself to find the answer in no real hurry.

The timer on the lights in the room dimmed for the night as a cool breeze rolled throughout the room. There was a faint whisper in the wind turning to a mighty roar of frustration and wrath on the other side of the universe. Thanos used his bare hands to slaughter whatever Chitauri he could capture. He tore them limb from limb, bathing in their dark blood as he slipped and lost sight of the creatures that hid for cover. He looked into the pieces of the shattered mirror that the mortal tramp had thrown his into, severing his bridge to earth. He took the needed hours to collect himself and wave his armor clean, returning to the mirror as he slowly pieced it together. He was determined more than ever to retrieve the simple mortal and make an example of her in front of Loki as he would be made to watch but from drawn blood or forced contact, he still couldn’t choose.

The great burning sun behind his sanctuary shined on cracked reflection of the young woman as she laid healing in bed.

“I was too aggressive but there’s still a way…”

He focused on her, following the faint but sure wave of energy to her lower abdomen as his large blue eyes snapped open. There was no fear or anger or any select emotion that he could find besides wonder and curiosity. He knew he had much work to do before fully possessing her again but turned his head and listened to the significant heartbeat deep within her.

“You think you’ve taken my ties away but there are always creaks to seep through.”

He chuckled, resting on the rock next to him as he rubbed at the sore spots she gave him around his neck.

“I shall see you soon, my dear…”


	8. Break and breakaway...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight trigger for disturbing images ahead...

A whole month, she could have missed a day or two but she knew Jemma was keeping track for her. She missed Loki and was beginning to see less and less of him and more of the Captain as her personal guard. Cody wasn’t all sure if the guard duty was for her protection of for that of others but she knew better. Most of the time she would ignore it but she knew whatever the Chitauri did to her made her more inhuman with each passing day. She was thankful for the surgeon to help her channel her energy whenever he could.

Cody sighed and looked to the makeshift wall between her and Loki. She knew he was sedated but she was lucky, seeing as only three people would touch her. She felt an ache in her bones not being able to touch Loki. She still didn’t wish to be sedated as the doctor checked her incision sight. He had removed the hair again that had grown back and tested her to make sure everything was clear and good to go. The more time Strange kept her in the lab, the less stress that was taken off her and the baby inside of her. The only thing that bothered him was that someone would have to tell her when she started to show.

“How are you feeling today?”

Cody never enjoyed telling everyone how she felt but he could see it in her as she touched the plastered wall with her finger. He injected her with medicine and looked over his shoulder to the changing guards.

“Try and focus on him,” he whispered through his mask.

“I always do.”

“Phasing takes focus and you’ll need to learn to control it. Make a small portal to the chair next to his. Imagine him there with you. Block everything out.”

Cody focused and cleared her head as she felt her grey misting hand pass through the wall. She stayed as together as she could as she felt Loki’s cold hand, wrapping her fingers around his hand. She cried as he turned his hand and laced his fingers to hers.

“Damn,” said Steven as he turned for his medical tray, “I messed up on one of the stitches. This may take some more time to reduce scaring.”

Cody smiled through her tears and gripped Loki’s hand tighter.

“Thank you, Doctor Strange.”

She fought the turn of her stomach and the sounds of the new guards stationing themselves outside her door as her hand began to warm Loki’s skin. Time was starting to grow precious and she was glad to get what she had.

_“Loki? I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere. I love you…”_

Loki didn’t care if he was dreaming or not but indulged himself in Cody’s hand as it passed through the wall to him. It was her touch, all right. He held as tightly as he could and dreamt of her as the medicine was turned up in his tubes…

She let him go the minute she saw Ross enter the lab. Strange couldn’t scold him as the transfusion had ended, giving the lab no more purpose to be sterile. Cody was nervous as a smile crossed his face, something she had never seen from him. He took a place next to Steve as he reached for Cody’s cuffs.

“Not this time, Rogers. This will be a casual visit. Stay close. Miss Cody, if you please?”

Cody moved from her chair and slipped on her track shoes as she followed cautiously beside General Ross. The halls, she noticed she hadn’t traveled down before as they walked through to the heart of the army base. They were also clear, giving a reason for Cody to be suspicious. Ross held open a door to a meeting room as she and Steve entered with the smell of fresh food hitting their noses. Cody took a seat as Steve gave her some space, placing himself next to a plate of steaming vegetables.

“Please, have something to eat. These are leftovers from a meeting. I’ll only be a minute.”

Cody waited until Ross had made it to the other side of the table and rummaged through the cabinets. She loaded a plate full of food alongside Steve and shoved what she could down her mouth. Most of the base food was MRE’s and stew that made her get sick but all she could do now was devour her warm carrots and dinner rolls before Ross turned around.

Ross placed a single item on the table and took a fresh Monte Crisco from near Steve. Cody forced herself to slow and eat like a lady but she knew it was showing.

“Much better than the dog shit they serve here. They only did this because Ellis was here. I thought we’d cease the moment before we go back to our old habits. Lucky, the dinner rolls last for days but I’ll be gone by then. You two should take some food back with you. Steve will need it for the build but you’ll need it for you condition.”

“I’m fine, Strange has been injecting me with personal minerals. I haven’t had an episode in weeks.”

“I don’t mean that, Miss Cody. Sorry, I don’t have a last name for you.”

“I don’t want to give it. Last thing I need is for you to find out about me.”

“And what would that be?”

“Absolutely nothing. I’m duller than fucking cardboard.”

“I don’t buy that for a minute, Cody. You seem like the kind of person that’s hiding something.”

“Yeah, they’re called secrets. We all have them. I’m sure you have an elephant graveyard lining your BDU’s.”

“Don’t sell me short, missy. I do what is asked of me in the best interest of everyone.”

“Is that were the term _boner_ came from? I don’t see what’s interesting about me.”

“You’re married to a tyrant that’s slaughtered 3% of the world’s population and you turned a few of my men into dust. Not to mention you’re about a month ago.”

Cody stopped chew her food and was frozen as Ross continues. Steve stopped eating as well as Cody spit her food to her plate and burned a hole in Ross’ forehead.

“What the fuck did you just say?”

“You are a person of interest…”

“I’m not fucking pregnant! My ex made sure of that.”

“Language,” softly interrupted Steve.

“Shove it up your ass!”

“Yes, about a month. I have a daughter, survived New York and is working to patch up Berlin. I remember the glow to her mother when she was pregnant but yours is so much more luminesce.”

“Don’t you fucking punk me, Ross.”

He wiped the edge of his mouth and slid a small, thin box across the table as it stopped short of her place setting. She tore open the box as a pregnancy test slid into her fingers.

“You can always prove me wrong.”

Cody kept her eyes to the table and snapped the test in half as the pieces sailed over her shoulders.

“You are wrong.”

Pieces were slowly coming together as Cody held her stomach under the table. Ross trashed his plate with the sane smile on his face.

“You know; you may have been a polished little trophy for his highness but I can spot a traitor when I see one. You are hiding something and I will find out what it is. What I do know is that if you defy my orders anymore, I will see to it that you, your loving husband and your royal bastard are permanently separated.”

Cody held herself still as she refused to listen or believe his words. Ross took her growing emotions and the tears forming at the sides of her eyes as defeat as he couldn’t help but lower himself to her ear.

“Enjoy raising your child in lockup.”

Cody turned her head to him, not attacking as Ross chuckled.

“Nothing? I would have at least thought you would say something smartass.”

Cody watched as he placed another test next to her hand. She pushed a piece of broccoli into her mouth and chewed watching for the right moment until Ross was face to face with her. Cody spat her food into his face as he stumbled back while she kicked her chair back to the wall as it shattered to pieces. Steve rushed between them, mostly to Cody as he kept her back from Ross and his gun. He wiped his face as the smile changed into the scowl that she was so familiar with.

“Enjoy your bastards, bitch. I’ll be back in twelve months.”

As soon as the door shut to the office room, Cody fled for the bathroom as Steve was left with the mountains of food he was no longer hunger for. His thoughts remained unchanged about her as he sat and waited for Cody.

She tore open the box and fumbled with the test as she tried to take care not to break this one. She had done this so many times before when Charles had heavily persuaded her to have a baby.

_“It shall have your eyes…”_

Cody braced the wall next to her as she felt her mind fog.

She looked around her to the rock setting from when Thanos tried to take over her mind. She tried to move her legs but they just wouldn’t budge. Cody felt her skin crawl as she felt a large, purple, cold hand at her shoulder. The familiar golden armor presented himself in front of Cody as her head was turned up to meet the stranger’s matching eyes. He leaned his head forward and kissed Cody on her lips as her body refused to fight him. There was mothing from her to the kiss but she felt something strange to him. Affection? Joy? It sickened her as he pulled away from the kiss and smiled.

“You are indeed, my lovely creature.”

“You’re a son of a bitch.”

“No, I was conceived in the magnanimous reaches of space to joined parents, much like the bond lingering in you.”

“There’s nothing there!”

“If there wasn’t, would I have found the link to you?”

Ross knew and now he knew, whoever the hell he was. The test waiting in her hand would have made no difference.

“Do not worry, I mean no harm to you.”

“But to everyone else.”

“Fight, I can sense so much in you. That and the blood.”

“What?”

“That was why they did not attack you. They made into their mother.”

Cody tried to force herself awake.

“You cannot wake if you are not sleeping. I only want to show you something.”

He stepped out of the way as a man holding his side took his place. Cody hid her horrified expression with her hands as an old man stepped forward, he looked Greek or Italian as blood poured from his stomach, him begging her to end his life. He fell to the ground as a young black woman took his place. She arms had been cleanly cut from her body as tears streamed form her eyes. Cody screamed as she was finally able to turn away. Her eyes fell upon a young boy no older than three. She could see no cuts or blood yet as she sighed in relief. The boy turned to the sound of her smiling with the half of his small face that wasn’t removed.

Cody turned in every which direction, seeing a new person of race, age and gender as they stood bleeding, cut apart and butchered as they looked to her.

_“His love for you matches the love he felt when he allowed the scalpels to pierce their flesh. You are his wife and as such, you love them, insides and out.”_

Steve turned his head to the shriek as he raced to the door, locked as Cody screamed in terror on the other side.

“Cody? Open the door!”

The screamed stopped in an instant as he stood back and kicked the door open. He turned, seeing Cody shivering in the corner as half of her hair had turned a ghastly white. Steve turned his head to see the dark irises that had grown, showing some emptiness to her soul.

“Cody? Please say something.”

She panted as the rock setting disappeared from her sight.

“I saw them. I saw all of them.”

“Tell me what you need.”

“I…”

She looked to her left hand, again feeling the emptiness as a patch of grey appeared on her ring finger.

“I need to talk to Thor, then Loki.”

Steve pulled a shaking Cody into his arms as he lifted her away from the floor and the undeniably positive pregnancy test left behind them as Steve began his search of a wheelchair.

-

“My lady, Strange shall be back soon and says he had something to help with your powers but should you chose to follow through with this.”

“I intent to and I don’t appreciate you trying to talk me out of this.”

“Forgive me but I chose to do no such thing. Most of my people are together unhappily because they do not hold the power to break the bonds or blessings. Your power excels the need for his blessing.”

“Good.”

She decided not to talk anymore as Steve wheeled her through the maze of cells. He wasn’t sure of what she and Thor were talking about but he would find out soon enough when he was made to be an audience member. This time he was doing it of his own free will and to make sure nothing else would happen to or with Cody. His eyes fell to her hair that was still turning white. Another few minutes and there would be nothing dark and beautiful left to her hair, yet he knew he would be lying to himself.

Steve saw how Thor pressed something into her closing palm. He thought of every which way a conversation like this would go as they all turned one last time to Loki’s cell as he stared up at the ceiling.

“I sense family is near. Has mother and father come to disown me yet?”

“I would take care in the next few words that come from your mouth brother.”

Loki turned his head to try and meet that of his brother but was taken aback to see the changed sight of Cody. Her richly dark hair was a petrified white and her eyes were pale and left with nothing.

“Cody, what have they done to you?”

Cody looked up as he was stunned with her newly beautiful eyes.

“His name is Thanos and he wants you dead. Dead… Always dead. Death…”

“He is a bringer of death, Cody. What he may have shown you will make you wish for death. Do not listen to him.”

Cody gave all of her undivided attention to Loki as she got up from her chair and walked to the edge of his cell, testing the limits of the stress on her body. Now, it all didn’t matter to her. She was just as close to the cell wall as Loki was as he tried to get her to smile.

“I did see death, Loki. 923,754 people with another 35 that died from septic shock last night. They held on for so long and couldn’t be saved from you. I saw all of your test subjects. Every. Single. One. Of. Them…”

“Cody, Thanos is trying to find a way into your mind. You need to push him out.”

“I found a little boy in a little corner shop where a few of those things were wrangling up people for your sick science fuck-ups. You slaughtered his family. I carried him across the streets of the people you killed and I got him out of the city. The last time I saw him, he was crying out for me, and I saved him from you…”

“Cody?”

Loki saw the last of her hair turn white as she refused to meet his eyes. He sank as far as he could to his knees in front of Cody.

“Cody, please look at me.”

“Why? Why did you spare me?”

“Listen to me, Cody. Please don’t listen to them.”

“You didn’t think I was good enough for you experiments and thought I would look good strapped down to a table as you let a rubber dildo fuck me? I was ugly, remember? I remember the first time you spoke. You were bitching that I didn’t look like one of your kind. I used to be blond but it wasn’t good enough so you changed my hair. I was fucking pregnant with my husband’s baby and you took away the stretch marks!”

“He was abusing you!”

“HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU DIFFERENT?!”

Steve jumped at her voice echoing the cell block with other prisoners jumping as well. Tears fell from her eyes as she finally looked up to Loki. She could no longer feel a bond or a pull to him like she had in the past few weeks.

“Why do you destroy everything you touch? You took everything away from me, even your fucking clit ring of death left me all fucked up. Now, I can’t leave my cell without Strange there to help me with my powers.”

“You said you’d stay with me. You married me. You promised!”

Loki’s lower lips trembled as he pressed his head to the glass.

“Open up your eyes. I was just a hole to keep your dick wet. You never loved me.”

She let the words of Thanos and Ross fill her head and she knew they were right.

“No! I love you to the ends of Yggdrasil and back. You and the baby.”

Cody laughed as she placed her hands on her head.

“You knew too? Was I the only one not to know?”

“Cody, please. I loved you from the first moment I saw you…”

“Shut up…”

“And I will do whatever it takes, whatever Ross wants so that I may hold you and our child in our arms.”

“You’re not getting my child. The transfusions are done with. You are never seeing me again and you will never see this baby for as long as I’m breathing.”

Loki slammed his fist in anger as he sneered his lip, almost bringing back memories of Charles as she smiled.

“You cannot part from me, Cody. Don’t forget that I gave you that child. I gave myself and this is the thanks you give to me? You are mine for all of eternity.”

“I give eternity 90 seconds or less.”

Cody held out her hand to show off the ring that Loki sealed their marriage with. Loki’s anger quickly vanished as he frantically looked to Cody’s hand closing around the ring.

“Wait, Cody! You don’t know what you are doing!”

“I know. Now I’m just having fun.”

She closed her eyes and let every hidden emotion of the past five years flow to her hand as her fist turned grey. Steve looked on as she swayed on her feet as Loki was screaming for her to stop a mere foot away.

The memories of Charles abuse faded so quickly as Loki’s took his place. She could still feel the ooze of the HVP running down her leg as Loki looked to her in disgust. Every hour, every minute, naked and crying out his name in Stark Tower. Every forced, willing orgasm that fell from her lips. None of it was real. She opened her darkened eyes and saw her whole arm flake and fester like rocks as she felt the ring crumble in her palm. Her memories stopped as she remembered the changed look on his face when the changed his mind about giving her to the Chitauri.

It wasn’t… It couldn’t have been real.

She forced herself to stop as Cody felt drained from using her powers. She steadied her breath and opened the tray to Loki’s cell. She turned her healing hand down and let the dust and ashes fall to the tray as she snapped the plastic shut.

“Ross was right about one thing,” she said as she wiped her palms together, “I guess I do have a thing for bastards.”

Cody turned on her heel and walked away as Loki watched her through his tears. His heart felt as if a pillager had struck him through the chest as he looked to the pile of ash that was to be their future. Steve decided to follow Cody without the wheelchair as she staggered on her feet with Thor close behind him.

“Cody!”

“Fuck off, Steve…”

“Hold on!”

“I said fuck off!”

Cody turned and knocked Steve back, showing her to be stronger than before as he crashed into Thor. She held her breath as she felt her whole body shaking.

“What the hell, Thor?! I thought you said it would work!”

“Lady Cody, it did. You broke the bond of the marriage but now that you are no longer Aesir, whatever is linger in your system now has no way of being held back.”

_“And just imagine the potential of that pending destruction… my lovely creature…”_

Cody was petrified to hear the faintness of Thanos’ voice as she began to fall forward. Steve was on his feet and caught a sobbing Cody as he took her into his arms and carried her back to her cell. He left Thor to his own devices as he opened her cell with one hand and kicked the door shut. He crashed to the bed with her still in his arms. Cody panted for breath as Steve attempted to comfort her, only making her break into tears as he rocked her slowly.

“Let it out or it will hurt the baby.”

The word was so foreign falling from his lips but all he wanted was Cody to stop crying as each second broke more of his heart. He felt Cody’s weak hands try to grip his arms with no anvil. Steve pushed off his boots and pulled the shoes from Cody’s feet as he placed her under her covers. He stayed with her, ignoring the sounds of the cameras that turned to her cell.

“Well,” said Stark as he turned from the monitor, “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a total ass, Ross?”

“Something isn’t right about her and I will find out what it is.”

“She has nothing to hide, she never asked for any of this.”

“She made the choice and married him.”

“Now she’s divorced and has a kid on the way. I wonder what Ellis will think when he finds out that you are harassing a pregnant woman and keeping her here against her will.”

“Ellis was here and knows that I’m doing my job.”

“No, he was in Atlanta, has been for the past three days and you are trying to reap the benefits of his name, ass.”

“Cross my path, Stark and I will bury you.”

“Tempt me, Lieutenant Dan. You can’t do this and you know it.”

“She will see prison when I find out what she’s hiding.”

“And I’ll see you behind the gym at 3 o’clock.”

“Give Pepper, my love.”

Ross slammed the door behind him as Tony slammed his fist into the nearest wall. Luckily, his wrist watch covered his hand in time to keep his hand intact. He stopped and pulled the worn photo of Pepper from his coat. She was still so many miles away still in comatose as he tried to make sense of the situation. Pepper was all healed and only needed more time to wake. Tony looked to the screen as Steve was still with the young woman.

Tony pressed the side of his watch.

“You got that, right?”

“Every word.”

“I’ll find a way out for her and the baby but it’ll take time.”

“But not for Loki.”

Tony remembered the serenity in the woman’s face as she destroyed the ring and handed it to Loki on a silver platter.

“Not for Loki…”


	9. Season of the witch

_“Either stop fucking eating or get off my stage! Don’t none of you know how to turn?!”_

_Cody rolled her eyes and downed her water as the rest of the girls filed back in line and cursed under their breath to the choreographer. Another few tries and the rehearsals would be over. She knew all the steps and stayed to the middle; the back would get you unnoticed and the front of give you a sign to the forehead saying “Kick me”. She knew the routine back and forth, lucky that she was dancing for a cheap but known casino rather than the cut-throat ones closer to the strip. She was thinner than she normally liked but it was all worth the paycheck._

_“Enough! I’m getting a fucking headache. Get out and if you’re new, look for another job.”_

_Cody breathed easy as she was thankful to be hired two waves before the other girls holding their tears as they paced for the dressing room doors. She slung her bag over her shoulder with some pride in her._

_“Avania!”_

_“Fuck.”_

_Cody turned and made her way to the choreographer and the director as they gathered their papers for the coming evening._

_“Yeah?”_

_“First off, you’re a dumbass. Second, effective after tonight’s show, you’re fired.”_

_“Fine.”_

_It wasn’t the first time she was fired and it certainly wasn’t going to be the last. She was looking for a sign to leave Las Vegas and this could have very well been her shot._

_“Still stupid, Cod. Aren’t you going to ask us why?”_

_“Do I honestly have to? Did my ass get any bigger?”_

_“Smartass,” laughed the director as she smacked Cody on her forehead with a thick folder._

_“Cody, what the fuck are you doing here? This is cheap shit and you should be doing better.”_

_“Better wants five years of dancing experience.”_

_“Bullshit. The Aria needs fresher, willing blood. You’re it, kid. You’re smart in your moves and you don’t bicker. You start tomorrow.”_

_“Wait, what?”_

_“Say thank you and get the fuck out of here. Show starts in two hours.”_

_Cody accepted her portfolio from the director and ran to her locker in the dressing room. Her heart beat in her chest as she looked down to her months upon months of hard work, now at a crossroads. She could leave but now had no reason to. She heard the many stories from the staff about getting out while she still could but with a few months dancing in The Aria, she could have enough money, experience and favors to go anywhere she wanted but she feared being sucked into the scene of Las Vegas that it nearly terrified her to death. She choked on a sob, realizing that she was finally alone as she crashed against her locker and le6t her tears run._

_“Cody! You still here?”_

_She snapped herself up and wiped her tears before she was seen._

_“Uh, yeah!”_

_“Prince Charming is here for you again!”_

_“Fuck! Now is not the time.”_

_She gathered her things and headed out of the side door to try and get away from the man that was always present to her shows with a fresh rose in his hand and a smile on his face. No matter how many other girls she pushed in his direction, he would always be waiting for her. Cody’s eyes were too flooded with tears to notice him as she tripped over herself, sending them both to the floor._

_“Cody? Are you okay?”_

_She looked up to the pure blue eyes of the poor bastard that was always there with flowers and a small gift in hand. Charles looked down to Cody as tears welled up in her eyes. He dropped everything from his hands and wrapped his arms too tightly around her, scaring her for a moment._

_“Are you okay?”_

“What?”

“Ready?”

She shook her head as her eyes followed the closing shutters to make the room dark. Cody had her eyes closed as she waited for Simmons, glad that Steve stayed on the outside of the ultrasound lab. Simmons had a gleeful smile to her face.

“So,” she said pulling on a pair of gloves, “How do you feel now that the secret’s out?”

“I don’t know. Some are scared and others are smiling when they look at my stomach. The only thing saving me is Ross not being here. It’s like fresh air without him but this was bound to come out sooner or later. I just wish I hadn’t been one of the last to know.”

“We all are enjoying the news. Now, this is going to be cold and it’s only to see the progress of the baby.”

She lifted Cody’s shirt and applied gel as Cody enjoyed the chill. Jemma pointed to the screen as the image of Cody’s stomach showed. She wrinkled her brow as she ignored Jemma’s growing reaction.

“It doesn’t look like much.”

“You’re only at twelve weeks, silly. Look there! There’s its little arms and all its toes! I bet my soul it’ll be a healthy baby.”

“Please, don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. You… Do you plan to…”

“Don’t look at me like that, Jemma. I’m not getting rid of it. I’m not even sure if I want to give it up for adoption. God knows what’ll happen if they get normal parents and they get powers when they hit puberty. Ross will end up finding them and dissecting them. I can’t give them up. I wouldn’t do that.”

“So, you are going to keep it?”

“How am I going to raise a child in a place like this? I don’t know what I’m going to do. Fuck. I need therapy if I’m gonna survive the next few months.”

“Dr. Suresh did a fair amount of study in psychology. We can ask her or if you want we can find someone else.”

“No, I trust her like I trust you.”

“Glad to hear. Would you like to know?”

“Know what?”

“Gender?”

“No. I can’t exactly shop for nursery shit while I’m in here. I’ll just go along with it.”

“Very well, at least I know how to keep a secret,” she beamed as she snapped a few pictures for Cody to have.

Simmons gave Cody the small pile of ultrasounds as the cold goo was wiped from her stomach.

“I’ll leave you to get dressed know. If you have any questions, you know where we are.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Sure…”

“No, Simmons! I mean… thanks. For everything.”

“I know and I mean sure. Try not to stress yourself.”

Jemma left the room and let Cody redress as she found Steve nowhere to be seen. She used the opportunity to wander the halls. She caught a few eyes that were all kind to her now. Each of them smiled to her, seeing the bit of light in the situation. For the first time, Cody felt whole, having some real purpose other than being someone’s trophy wife.

She sat on the edge of her bed, seeing Rogers had fallen asleep in the room across from hers. She turned to her back and took her time looking to each one of the ultrasounds, glad as she rested her cold hand to her warm belly.

“They won’t touch you,” she whispered.

This thing, no. _Her_ baby. She knew Loki was honest when he gave her what she wanted. It _was_ out of love. She just had no more to give him but she would finally give the world to her child.

Simmons clutched her badge in her hand, showing the bit of plastic every few seconds as she made her way past the sea of guards weaving in and out of the prisons. Each day more and more were being transferred to the fresh isolations Stark had finished in the middle of the Pacific. She knew he was doing something with his free time. There seemed to be more of that lately.

Jemma soon realized that her footsteps echoed the last bit of the empty prison with the single lone cell to greet her that was authorized to stay put indefinitely. She stopped at the desk, glancing in to the one-way mirror of the cell. Loki was staying busy as well. His cell was well kept, sheets folded, clothes piled neatly with the books provided. She could see him idle every now and again as if someone, Cody would come back to him.

Loki could hear the small footsteps knowing that didn’t belong to Cody. It was the mousey little scientist that remained at the Dr. Suresh’s side. He looked around the cell to the stopped possibility that Cody would return to him. He wondered how a Midgardian could live in the normal live.

A family. A home. _The white picket fence._ They held too many expectations but he did as well. He used his time picturing his own white picket fence in the form of a bedchamber in the palace back on Asgard. Cody would have had her own space near the gardens, one that belonged to his mother before she died. There would be a nursery as well. Everything that would be provided for the baby to grow, no matter its gender.

His mind drew a blank as he tried to think of something else for Cody but he never took the time to know her better, only how to make her submit easier. The worry and regret made him idle as he began moving the table to the other side of the room again. She was gone and it was his own fault.

Simmons finished her lunch in silence as she brushed the crumbs off her sweater and rearranged her work papers for the next few days. Mostly Cody’s blood work and a formula for a supplement she could take for the baby since Cody didn’t like pills.

Work, work, work.

That was what it came to, Stark said. He was planning something, him and the Captain, and she placed the pieces together. She joined, in not so many words with Stark’s permission. The walls had ears and lip reading tech, all of which was Fitz’s design. She knew his stance and if he found out, word would get to Ross and it would all go to shit.

Simmons would protect Cody and the baby at all costs. She stopped in front of the cell and activated its cloaking systems. Loki turned at the sudden fade of the walls to Simmons as she was busy collecting her paperwork.

“I don’t know why but I hope too much that she will return.”

“You think of her.”

“The males of this planet treat woman as game, catch and release, all sport like you are to be mounded on the wall.”

“You are no different.”

“My prize was mountable while it lasted, then he found her.”

“Yes, and if you don’t get your fatherly issues together, she will lose the baby.”

“Is that a threat,” he sneered as he crotched down to her level.

Simmons knew he was trying to scare her as tears welled in her eyes and ran down her face.

“All of what I am doing is for her, to show that you will not get satisfaction out of this. My parents were in London in one of your epicenters. It… It took me weeks, no sleep to use facial recognition to put their charred faces back together!”

Loki bit back his tongue as he looked to Simmons reach in her folders and pull out a bit of hard paper. She slid it in the cell as it landed at Loki’s feet. Loki’s hand shook as his fingers absentmindedly traced the image.

“What is this?”

“I heard she was smiling when she incinerated the ring you gave her and blew it away like the sands of time.”

“She said I would never see the baby again.”

“Well. There is it, your highness. Your baby.”

He looked at the picture again with some understanding, seeing each of the baby’s features as they looked more like Cody’s. Tears ran down his face as she pushed the rest of the pictures into the cell carelessly and turned to leave.

“Wait, wait! Where is Cody? How is she?”

“Holding but as much as I don’t want to make this a threat on her part, this will be directed at you. She was lucky when Thanos found her but anything could go wrong at this point. You are being kept her for her protection, you exploding cigar! I stand by everyone’s word to keep you buried in the darkest of trenches this planet, my planet must offer! You are never going to see her or the baby again. Consider those pictures as mercy and a final goodbye, Loki.”

Steve was glad to have woken when he did. Cody had almost seen him with his eyes open but he could fake sleeping until she fell asleep. Steve felt himself like a puppy being put on her detail but felt more like a nanny to watch her as she grew with the baby. Sooner or later she would start to show and the tattoos on her skin would no longer be able to do their job as distractions.

He’d chosen to leave Cody to her own devices for once and observe Loki in the prisons. He was about to touch the walls as Simmons paced to his usual desk. He watched as this girl, this brilliant young woman ripped Loki to shreds with only a few words. Loki was still in tears as Simmons left. He clutched the pictures in his hand and broken down as his sobs echoed the prison.

Steve could only listen and think of Cody and the baby.

_“Ready?”_

_“Yeah…”_

_Charles helped Cody from the car as she looked up to the family home that he had told her about countless times. Both his mom and dad were killed in a boating accident, leaving him the house that she was sure he wanted filled with a family._

_She blushed as he kissed the fresh wedding band on her finger. Something agreeable and quick as Vegas would allow. This was her decision, her third choice to get her out of Vegas. It was more than her mother had ever done and Cody would make sure she didn’t end up like her. She would make it work in any way she could._

_He took her by the hand and lead her forward past the white picket fence to the rotting shingles and the growing mold that was supposed to be the house as she tried to stop in her tracks. She looked down to Charles’ hand as he tightened it around hers painfully. She cried out for him to stop, feeling his fingernails dig into the flesh of her wrist. Cody looked up at the last second to see Thanos in the crumbling doorway, smiling to her with open arms._

_“Welcome home, my creature…”_

Cody screamed at the top of her lungs as Steve shook her awake. Her white hair stuck to her forehead as she tried to fight Steve away.

“Cody! Cody! It’s me.”

Cody blasted Steve to the door but was saved as Doctor Strange used a spell to break his fall. He set Steve on his feet and rushed to Cody. He pulled a light from his coat and examined Cody all while urging her to calm.

“Cody? Follow the light for me…”

He took some caution in the humming tattoos on her skin but took care of her first. He settled her back on the bed and let her rest. He pulled Steve from the room and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Is this the first terror she’s had?”

“Yes.”

“Even while I was gone?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Thor is staying on Asgard.”

“What? What if something happens? This wasn’t part of the plan.”

“None of this is, Rogers. Open your eyes. Thor is coming back for Loki when his way back is fixed. We’re straining the universe with our powers as it is. For now, we’ll just have to manage…”

So many hours passed with Steve waiting on his side of the hall, watching in on Cody as she tried to keep her eyes forward.

“I want my door closed,” she mumbled.

“You need to speak louder.”

“I want my fucking door closed!”

“You need to watch your mouth, Cody.”

“Or what,” she huffed as she marched to her door, “You gonna do it for me, Tulip?”

“I said enough!”

“Both of you! Get a room or separate!”

Cody turned at Doctor Strange returning to the hall for them. A loud thud made her jump as Steve slammed his door shut and closed himself away from Cody. He was close, so close to pulling her into his room and bent her over the nearest surface.

His face blushed with embarrassment and frustration as he reached for the fly of his jeans and the knob of his bathroom door.

Cody jumped at the second door slam as Strange smiled to her. She was now used to standing up for herself at an alarming rate and her hormones would most possibly make it worse.

“I’m not one for modern words but you should just fuck already because the thirst is real. You are single now.”

“Fuck off, Strange,” she mumbled as she tried to hide her blushing face.

“Don’t you want my present?”

“I need some peace.”

The doctor held out his hand and lifted a bangle with a smile to his face.

“What the hell is that?”

“A relic from the surviving sanctum. Just wait for it.”

He worked the metallic band to her wrist and watched at the metal formed tight enough to her skin. Cody was scared at first but amazed to see the straight metal twist and turn as it covered most of her forearm.

“Well?”

“It’s tight.”

The metal whined a bit as it loosened up, yet keeping its shape to her arm. Instantly, Cody felt a large strain disappear as the green emerald in the center glowed softly. Steven helped her as she swayed on her feet.

“Hey, hey. Easy there. This ancient stuff could wreak havoc on your immune system.”

“You tell me know?”

Cody could already feel her cheeks redden as Steven tried to lead her away from her room.

“No. I need to rest. Simmons said so…”

“Dr. Suresh says she’s got something for you.”

“Another damn needle,” she grumbled as she was pulled along.

Steve gasped for breath, keeping his eyes sealed as he came. His body’s reactions to Cody were getting worse and more needing but it wouldn’t have been fair to Cody. He was already around her enough and he wasn’t about to force his emotions onto her. Steve washed up as quick as she could and ran the hall until he trailed behind Strange as he locked arms with Cody. His eyes shot straight for the bangle as the rim of its metal shown in the ceiling light.

Cody bit back her opinions and was pulled out Dr. Suresh’s wing as the soft colors comforted her again.

“Maybe later when all the excitement is over, I’ll help you out with some simple ways to harness all that gas and bitchiness.”

“I don’t have gas.”

“You will. The little thing’s the same principles as a Disney genie…”

“Don’t to it…”

“Phenomenal cosmic power! Itty bitty living space,” he joked as Cody failed to hide a laugh.

Steve was glad to hear something genuine from Cody as she was lead to Mira’s office. Cody stopped in the doorway, stuck in shock as she looked in to the obvious visitor standing so small next to Moira. She was trembling all over as her knees began to weaken.

“You look older than Auntie,” he laughed.

“H-Hoppy?”

He smiled and ran to Cody. Her lip trembled as she raced forward and fell to her knees, catching Hoppy as his little arms wrapped tightly around her neck.

“I made it, Lara Croft! They found us!”

Cody tried to answer but sobbed as she held Hoppy, rocking him back and forth as Moira ushered the men away from the door and closed them all away.

“I do have an oath as a Doctor, gentleman, but I will forever be in her debt.”

“How does she know him?”

“She escaped New York with him before she was captured. She saved the last of my family and I will do the same for her.”

“Auntie!”

Captain was the first to move as he brought up his boot and broke the door in two. He raced to Cody as she was holding back her cries of pain. It was all so simple and then it changed in a second. Strange saw the blood coating the inside of Cody’s sweatpants as he called for help. Mira had to drag Hoppy away, screaming that he wanted to stay by Cody’s side.

_She remembered how quickly the grip of his hand tighten around hers as she touched one of his mother’s tea cups._

Tears filled her eyes as she was lifted and placed on a gurney and rolled away. Her ears were filled with cotton and the lights burned as white as her hair. She couldn’t pray, it didn’t hurt so there was no reason to.

No, there was a reason.

The heart in Loki’s chest stopped as it filled with a painful twinge.

“No…”

It was his actions, his consequences and the silence in his mind made his fall to his knees and pray.

Strange was quick to prep, always ready just in case of things like this. Mira flew into the OR with the mobile ultrasound in her shaking hands.

“No, no, no…”

“Talk to me, Mira. I need to know what I’m doing.”

“Give me a damn minute!”

The room was silent as Mira couldn’t find a heartbeat.

“Ple…”

Mira looked down to Cody as the last of the anesthesia kicked in. Her heart broke, thinking of how or what she was going to tell her.

“Mira!”

She snapped out of her thoughts as a slow and steady beat came from the monitor.

“What?”

Strange’s hands flew to the screen as he pulled up the 3D imaging to see what was happening to the baby. His eyes widened as he watched the noticeable aura around the fetus healing itself.

“How is that possible?”

“Guess you have something positive to tell her when she wakes, won’t you? Be sure to tell the kid, too?”

“What about Loki?”

“Shooter’s choice. I’m going in.”

Strange entered Cody’s mind, finding her by herself as she was laid out on her back as stiff as a board.

_“Cody?”_

_“Tell me… Just tell me.”_

_“You need to trust me. Everything is fine.”_

_“This one went quicker. I had to watch the last one bleed. There was so much fucking blood…”_

_“It’s still alive. The phenomenal cosmic power is healing itself.”_

_The ground beneath him shattered as Cody was finally able to sit up._

_“I-I don…”_

_“You are still under and Moira will be monitoring you. It’s a miracle and it’s not going anywhere.”_

_“Okay… Okay…”_

Strange pushed the sweating matted white hair from Cody’s eyes as her brow unwrinkled. He sighed and ripped off the mask to breathe easier. His eyes met Mira’s as she shook her head. Three more weeks and Cody would be as good as safe but he wasn’t sure that Stark Tower would be the best place.

The fetus surviving this time was one thing. Memories of her time in the tower could trigger something else, making her relive the experience all over again. Strange was worried and prepare as he was _Plan B._

Three more weeks and this young woman, this one woman with all her angels was running out of miracles…


	10. Cold as Hell

 

The display of objects in front of them scattered from metals to wood and melted to shattered bits as Strange helped her ease her powers more. She lifted her hands and sent an empty mason jar flipping wildly through the air. She snapped her fist closed, turning the small glass jar into sand that piled to the floor. Cody wiped her forehead, dizzy as the doctor took notice.

“That’s enough for today. You’ll need to dial it back for the baby.”

There was a lump in her throat to stop her from being a smartass. She shook her head and drank as much water as she needed. She was still nobody but if she could control her powers to the point of no one having to look over their shoulders to her, she would do what was necessary.

“Talk to me, Cody.”

“No. I just want to sleep.”

“There’s something else.”

“There’s always something.”

For the things she could control with her powers, she couldn’t find it in her to control her feelings as her lit tattoos gave her away. She pushed her white hair that fell from her ponytail back into place.

“Whatever you say. If you feel like growing balls and being honest, we’ll be here.”

Strange handed her another bottle of water as she choked it down as well.

“I’m no good here, Doctor. The world went to shit and I had no skill set before it did.”

“We all had to start somewhere.”

“I didn’t start anywhere.”

“Try me. I’m in no position to be judging anyone.”

He unwrapped the bandages at his hands and looked at the clock. The Captain would return for her and she needed to talk to someone. From what he had seen, Cody was under a constant spotlight since she almost lost her baby and even further when she was Loki were found in Stark Tower. She’d stopped seeing Dr. Suresh for the sake of protecting her and the little nephew that was persistent on visiting Cody and checking on her health. Steven admired the young boy and wished that Cody would find a positive emotion for once.

“Daddy left before I was born. I went to public school. Mom kicked me out at 16. I hitched it all the way to Vegas and danced until I got married to someone I thought loved me.”

“That’s it?”

“It doesn’t matter. I turned in one monster for another and they just keep on coming.”

“Can I give a spoiler?”

“What would spoil it?”

“I looked at an x-ray.”

“Yeah?”

“You’ve given birth before.”

She turned her eyes down as the glowing on her skin dulled.

“Yeah. It was a boy. Husband found out I was leaving. He kicked until I was down. I shot him and I… I don’t know. I couldn’t save it. People didn’t care how bruised and broken I was. They were going to leave me to rot.”

“Then the world went to shit.”

“And now I have people that want to care about me and I don’t know why.”

“We’re just looking out for the little guy.”

They turned to the sound of Steve’s voice in the doorway.

“Fuck,” Cody muttered under her breath.

Her return to normality ended with a roll of her eyes as she gathered her things. Strange helped her to her feet and noticed the bit of red around of the coils of the gold bangle. Two more months had gone and she was learning to control her powers beautifully but as she said before, there was always something.

“Hey. Maybe you should take off the bangle.”

“No. I don’t want to tempt anything.”

“Tomorrow. I’ll be here to make sure nothing happens. You’ve done well so far. We need to talk about your health.”

“I’ve been drinking Simmons’ tannis root drink.”

“Don’t try and get out of it. Tomorrow, hag!”

Cody smiled and flipped off Strange as Steve drummed his fingers.

“What? Got somewhere you need to be?”

“Ladies and gentlemen, she finally talks!”

“Damn. Here I thought that you were enjoying my silence.”

He kept his mouth closed and tried to keep his eyes from her fuller chest through her sweaty tank top. Steve didn’t dare look at her stomach. He swallowed the lump at the back of his throat and did what he could to steady his arm.

“Cody.”

He touched her arm for a second, not ensuring an ugly look as she stopped with him out of the way of the soldiers and scientists.

“What’s up?”

“I do have somewhere to be. Are you going to be alright?”

She was a bit stunned that he wasn’t going to be by her.

“Uh, yeah. Are you? Wouldn’t want to think that you’d be defenseless without me.”

Steve smiled and instantly felt like the kid from Brooklyn.

“Holy shit. Is that a smile? Did I just break the fucking mold with you?”

Steve blushed and turned in the other direction as attention was brought to him instead of her.

“Watch your mouth, Cody.”

“Virgin!”

His smile grew out of her what line of vision she would have seen. Cody turned in the direction of the café and ignored whomever she was sure was staring either at her or her belly. She straightened out her sweater to cover herself but with the clothes she was given, it was either the edge of her stomach or the tattoos on the top curves of her chest.

She stopped with an empty tray in her hand as she thought of Loki. She felt bad for not thinking of him for so long. Loki opened his eyes, feeling something, her and it made him smile. He closed them again and focused on Cody. The more time passed, the more he was able to think about many things, including Cody. Behind Strange’s back, Loki learned many things that Cody was unable to. Such things like astral projection.

His form turned and saw her motionless in the hungry sea of mortals. Nothing had changed about her with the exception of their baby in her womb and the Captain at her side. He stood in front of her, so close to caressing the side of her cheek. A strand of her ghastly white hair passed through his finger and made him draw back. Cody could feel a bit of warmth disappear from in front of her and it made her want to cry.

 _Stop it_ , she thought to herself, _it’s only hormones_.

Loki kissed her cheek and made her tattoo glow. Cody snapped from her daze and zipped her sweater, making Loki smile to the extent of his new powers. He turned, stopped by Strange’s glowing hand at his neck.

“Get back to the cell before I kill you myself.”

Loki gasped, shaken as he tumbled to the floor of his cell. He turned his head to Strange enchanting the outside of the cell. He left Loki without a word, no knowing that he was able to slip through a few cracks but he would be sure to tell Tony when he returned. Things were changing quickly and he would have to leave along with so many others.

Cody turned to put her tray back until she met Hoppy’s excited eyes.

“Lara!”

His arms wrapped around her legs, making her smile enough to hurt.

“Hoppy!”

She steadied herself and did what she could to hug him back.

“Where are you going? It’s lunch time!”

“I’m not sure.”

“You can’t leave. Auntie says you need to eat for the baby. The baby is taking calcium from your bones and if you don’t eat, you could snap like a twig.”

“Are you sure you’re five? You sound like a doctor.”

“I have a tutor and I told Auntie I wanted to be a doctor when I got older.”

“That’s amazing,” she beamed as Hoppy led her to the food, “Where is she?”

“Working. She said she would get me something to eat but I told her I would do it myself. I don’t think she heard me. Where’s the Captain?”

“The same but I’ll be fine on my own. You, however, are still a kid. You need to be careful.”

“I have you.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Beans, please.”

Cody helped him load their plates with food and made their way to finding available seating. She stomached what she could with some of the food tasting off.

“Are you alright, Lara?”

“It’s just different is all. The mashed potatoes are okay though.”

“Because of the baby?”

“Yeah, but it’s okay.”

“Yes, it is.”

Hoppy climbed on his chair and poured some of his milk into Cody’s cup to make sure she had more. Cody accepted her full cup back and sipped as Hoppy made sure she drank.

“Better?”

“Yes, milk is better than cheese.”

“Thank you, little Doctor Suresh.”

“You are welcome, Lara.”

“You know you can call me Cody, right?”

“They call you Cody. To me, you are special.”

“So, I’m still Lara Croft?”

“You might be Kali the destroyer. She is known from where my parents are from. I remember how you looked like the last time I saw you.”

Cody pushed the food around her plate and felt the faintest bit insecure. Sometimes children were brutally honest.

“Is that… bad?”

“Some people are scared of you. They don’t understand,” he shrugged as he started on his pudding.

“What don’t they understand?”

“Many think that Kali is scary. They only look that she is a destroyer, that she is covered in darkness.”

“Isn’t she?”

“Yes, but she destroys only to recreate. She destroys sin and many bad things. People say things about you, that you saw the devil and that’s why you look like a ghost. You’ve seen too much darkness in your life.”

Cody blushed as she tucked her white hair behind her ear.

“That’s not exactly wrong. What else?”

“Don’t know. She is strong and is pure. She has no form and full of potential, whatever that means.”

“You think I’m a scary looking Goddess?”

“I think you are my friend and if the Devil comes for you again, you will be the one to show his soul to Hell.”

“Thanks, Hoppy. He better pray that he never shows his face.”

“Because you will keep everyone safe?”

“Everyone, even you. I promise.”

He wiped his face and failed to hide his growing smile from Cody.

-

Loki ignored the tapping on the glass as he kept his eyes to the ceiling.

“Stop being such a bastard.”

He smiled to the sound of the male sorcerer that mentally trapped him in his cell.

“Haven’t you heard? Your claim would prove to be true.”

“Stop being a dick. We need to talk about the woman carrying your child.”

Loki calmly restrained himself to show the male doctor no emotion for him to play on.

“If it were not for my cock being in her…”

“Shut up. Don’t make it gross. How did you enter astral form?”

“Supreme sorcerer and you can’t answer me that? You are but a child. I have had decades to master the arts of your simple mystics.”

“She’s doing fine. Thank you for asking. If you are going to do that again, then she needs to know.”

“She will not wish to see me.”

“If you talk to her…”

“That was why I did it in the first place! She turned my promise to her, her ring to ashes and gave them back to me. If she does not wish for me then I will make sure she is watched over, her and my child.”

“The bangle is protecting her for now but whatever is haunting you is giving off a great amount of celestial energy. Care to explain?”

“It is well beyond your understanding.”

“That’s okay. Your daddy issues are just going to affect whatever relationship with your child.”

“As long as she is safe that is all that matters.”

Loki turned from him and sat with his feet crossed. Strange waved his hand, weakening the enchantments around the cell.

“Do your magic responsibly, Loki. Don’t make me come back.”

He waited until the doctor was well out of his earshot. Loki reclined back on his bed and focused on Cody. He felt himself raise from his body, now uninterested in how he looked down to himself and wandered the base to look out for Cody.

Cody sat in Dr. Suresh’s office, staying with a sleeping Hoppy as Mira returned.

“Oh my goodness,” she sighed as Cody moved from the chair.

“I wasn’t sure if they were going to give you my message. I couldn’t remember your extension.”

“No, no. That is alright. I’m glad he was with you.”

She stripped off her jacket and covered Hoppy. Cody looked down to Hoppy’s hand grabbing hers as he slept soundly.

“He never stops talking about you, my dear.”

“I’m glad that he survived. I thought I scared him away after last time.”

“He idolizes you. He wishes to marry you, you know.”

Cody covered her laughter.

“That’s only because he thinks I’m Kali the destroyer.”

“He told me about nightmares that he’s had since the incident but whenever there is a mention of you, he matures so quickly.”

“I got to witness that firsthand. He forced three glasses of milk into me.”

“His tutor says he refuses to be idol. How are you?”

Cody pulled her sweat shirt down over her stomach.

“Adjusting. No nightmares, no complications with the birth.”

“You are not happy with that?”

“I’m happy enough. I can feel something coming to take that away.”

Mira wrapped her arms around Cody, not too quick, as Cody was gradually comforted by her embraced. She hugged her back and could feel a bit of warmness run through her. Loki kept himself as quiet as he could bear as he pressed himself tenderly to Cody’s back. He would have given anything just to touch her again. He felt it as Hell to have her so close with the consequences of his actions to keep him from her forever.

“You are safe…”

Cody hid her tears as she left Hoppy and Mira and made her way back across the base. The cold of night greeted her face as she tried to pull her sweatshirt together. From what she remembered, it was near the end of October. There was no smell of sea water but she no longer cared where they were. Loki watched her stopping here and there to catch her breath as she ventured the grounds without the Captain. The wind picked up and played with the white strains of her hair. He knew he didn’t have to worry for her. The people around her no longer cared to look in her direction when she walked by and with her new powers, she was more than capable of protecting herself.

Steve rubbed his eyes and sat in silence with everyone else around him. Simmons was more quiet than usual as she went back and forth between her work and voicing her options to the group. Strange arrived with no problem as Stark looked out to the repairing city underneath him. There was so much suspicion and worry. There was no trust or safe place to gather as they sat cramped in the quintjet.

“Still no word from Thor?”

“No. She needs to be moved.”

Strange sighed as he flexed his shaking hands.

“We can’t put her back in the tower if she isn’t mentally ready.”

Tony choked back his fifth espresso, ready to take on what was ahead.

“We are pulling a lot of resources for one person and we don’t even know if she wants to be helped.”

“Ross is in Europe,” chimed Simmons as she closed her work, “there have been some success in clean up and with the rate they are going, he will be back sooner than expected.”

Tony looked to her hand sans her engagement ring.

“Do we have anything to really worry about,” asked Strange as the lights of the base came in sight.

“Fitz is busy. Loki is locked away and I think, Mr. Stark, now is the time to tell them.”

All eyes shifted to Tony.

“Thanks, Harriet Jones. I finished the compound but she’ll be on a separate bit of land away from whomever may tell.”

“Stark, what is the point of taking somewhere secluded if someone is going to snitch to Ross.”

“Steve, you really shouldn’t talk. You asked for my help and that is what I am doing. I’ve been going through a rigorous process to make sure that doesn’t happen…”

“He is going to find her and make sure she’s chained up…”

“…because time is ticking and I want to get her out…”

Steve and Tony were inching closer together with faces as red as Tony’s armor.

“…she’s still terrified and no one has asked her what she wants…”

“… at least she’ll be safer under our eye…”

“No!”

“We can’t lose anyone else! Come on!”

A sudden bit of turbulence rocked the jet as Simmons was thrown to the floor. Strange caught her, using his magic to steady the craft before it descended too rapidly.

“What the hell was that?”

Simmons screamed as Loki’s astral body appeared from nowhere. They all looked to the fear in his pale face.

“He’s here.”

Cody didn’t look to the light flickering under her door as she took the bangle she removed and placed it on the floor next to her bed. She shrug it off and tried to let the darkness put her to sleep. The cold did help as she tucked the sheets around her and drifted off the best she could. Her stomach quivered a bit but she knew that was to be expected. She had the baby and it was enough to put her calmly to sleep most nights.

She dreamed, immersed in the darkness around her. She no longer felt heavy or stuck to her mattress. The blanket around her began to slide but she didn’t mind. Her body felt weightless as her limbs began to feel petrified. There was no more cold as the last of the blanket slipped from her and a warmth encased her. Through she dreamed of nothing, her heart raced in panic to the cold lips at her shoulder. Her sweat shirt was pulled from her arm as large hands roamed her skin.

 _No_ …

She was frozen, unable to wake herself as she felt him nuzzle against her skin more.

“Oh, how I’ve missed you my creature.”

Thanos did know how much he had been straining himself over the countless nights to search for the Chitauri’s new appointed mother. He didn’t care for her name because not only was it too simple for him to acknowledge her by her given name, it was far too weak for what she really was. He had been meditating by himself with the snap of the impatient Chitauri at his back, crying out for her. A riff of raw energy he knew was her stabbed his veins with a chill locked onto her dreaming image as she slept. He knew she could not run forever.

His hand didn’t know where to start. It roamed down her arm to the side of her stomach of all places as it rested for a moment.

“You have been keeping it healthy. I would never hurt you enough to take it away but it’s father will burn when I find him. They marvel you with fear as I would allow it but with you by my side to unlock your true potential.”

He gently pulled her arm back to his waiting lips and kissed her skin as it unpainfully festered to a crumbling gray. Cody watched in horror as the gray spread across her skin to underneath her clothes. Fear began to settle in as the discolor started to cover her belly. Thanos’ fingers left her skin for a moment and pulled at her clothes. Cody sealed her eyes away from the nightmare and screamed.

Steve was already the first one off of the Quinjet as Strange tried to find a way into her room. His sling ring wasn’t working and he feared for Cody as he called ahead with Simmons for help if anything was to further get worse. No one noticed him as he ran through everyone trying to help Stark reboot the electrical grid of the Air Base. He stopped the second he saw Loki’s form outside her door.

“What are you doing,” he shouted as if he were really there.

He didn’t care about Loki using his magic, there would be time for that later.

“Save her!”

Loki grabbed Steve by his throat and hauled him through a portion of her wall that he weakened. Steve scrambled to his feet and was stopped by the whispering that filled the room. Her things and her dressers were untouched as far as he could tell apart from the choking dark mist that clouded her room. His head spun as he tried the fight the wave of the mist that stung at his skin. Steve turned towards the bed.

Cody’s skin was crawling with her new skin as it glowed between the crumbling cracks. Thanos’ teeth raked at her skin to tease her but she did not want it. She only wanted him gone. Before she could move, his hand formed to her breast, roughly cupping her as she tried to fight him away. He chuckled into her ear to strength her mortal shell expelled.

“Please fight me, creature. Peel the skin away and make me bleed.”

He bit into her shoulder as she cried out in pain. Steve was able to move forward once he saw the blood oozing from the bite mark on her shoulder. He tried to move her as her limbs were frozen still.

“Cody!”

She flinched at the sound of her voice. Thanos snarled at his moment being interrupted before he could have her. His other hand wrapped around her arm and closed it until tears fell from her eyes.

“They don’t know when to quit. I wonder if they would love you in pieces.”

Horror filled Steve’s eyes as he saw a large darkening bruise at her arm. More marks appeared on her skin as he stood defenseless over her.

“Cody,” he called as he pressed his brow to hers, “You need to listen to me. You need to wake up.”

Thanos hurled her to the floor. Cody’s whole body shook as flashbacks of Charles ran through her mind. She tried to at least protect the baby. Thanos knew not to hurt what she wanted but he would make sure his ears were filled with her screams. He pushed himself into Cody enough to pin her to the rocks as they dug painfully into her back. He sucked painfully at her neck to leave marks.

“All I ask is for compliance,” he sighed as he he traced the dimming tattoos on her chest with the edge of his tongue, “Either be mine or be shackled as the monster you are. Either way, I win and you will be mine.”

Tears streamed from Steve’s eyes as he heard the dark voice frightening Cody. Steve held her face with both of his hands and fought the blistering mist as he lowered his head to her. Steve kissed her lips and wrapped his arms around her as he felt her shaking worsen. Thanos felt a beam of light blasted him back from Cody.

Steve fell to the bed next to Cody as light filled his vision. He didn’t realize how tightly he was gripped Cody’s hand as he looked to Thanos’ sanctuary around him. He was ready to fight his way through the creatures that had almost reduced New York to dust until something stopped him.

“Wait…”

The Chitauri settled and looked behind him to Cody as she settled herself on her two feet. Her clothes were spotted with blood and her skin was littered with fresh bruised but she stood tall as if they weren’t there. She pushed herself from Steve and made her way to a snarling Thanos. Cody raised her glowing gray hand over Thanos as his limbs were forced to the rocks beneath him. The Chitauri knelt near Cody, almost urging her as she looked down to Thanos.

“You think you are powerful than me, creature?”

Cody licked the blood from her lip with a smile.

“I’ve come from monsters worse than you. I want nothing that you have.”

She lifted her foot and stomped down hard on Thanos’ neck. His whole body jolted to the new strength now that she was free of his powers. He choked and forced what little breath he could as Cody straddled him. Through the pain and the defiance, Thanos’ craving for Cody worsened as she was seated so close to his cock. Cody looked into his sad dark eyes with so many questions littering her mind. She didn’t care.

“I want to be the last thing you see, you piece of shit.”

“You may try to kill me. Try and I will make you watch as I take all that you love.”

“Cody, we can’t stay here.”

She looked over her shoulder to Steve and still smiled. From the look in his eyes, she could imagine how she looked. Her crumbled skin covered her completely and her eyes glowed over. She didn’t care if she looked like a monster.

“I know. I’m not.”

She turned back and leaned over Thanos. There was some satisfaction as his eyes gawked at her chest coming into his vision. They turned to horror as her thumbs covered his eyes and pressed down hard. Cody planted her feet to the stone setting around her and used every bit of strength and power to press harder.

“I gave you a chance,” she snarled as Thanos thrashed underneath her, “I gave them all a chance!”

Thanos cried out in pain, doing anything to will the pain away. The Chitauri banged their fists to the stone and shrieked with delight to his pain.

“You don’t get to have me.”

Cody stopped and rocked off of Thanos’ chest. Steve ran to her and helped her up as the swarms of Chitauri fell behind her.

“Your turn…”

They all ran to Thanos with their claws drawn as his screams intensified. She looked up to the stream of light that she didn’t remember being there. Cody looked over her shoulder and single time to see Thanos pull himself to his feet. Half of his golden armor was shredded from his body and he swung his mighty fists, missing most of the Chitauri that slashed at deep wounds. The last thing that she saw was Thanos tripping over the edge of Sanctuary to the deep void of space below.

Steve and Cody both jolted awake as the mist vanished from her room. He stumbled from the bed and turned on every light until it stung his eyes. Steve fought to regain his gasping breath and forced himself back to the bed as Cody tried to move. Every shift of her limbs sent pain to her every nerve.

“Cody, don’t move.”

Her small cries of pain made tears fall from his eyes as the door opened behind him. Strange ran to Cody’s side.

“What the hell just happened?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“I couldn’t get in so how did you?! Her wall are perfectly intact.”

He wasn’t sure what to do about the change of her skin. He turned and made a portal to his operating space.

“Go get Loki. Don’t ask questions. Go! Stark help him!”

Steve ran from the room and made his way to the cells. Loki woke in time as he saw Steve race for him.

“I know who it was. I know what happened!”

“Shut up and move! Now!”

Steve flung his door open, leaving them both to run for their lives for Cody.

“S-Stop it…”

She knew they couldn’t hear her. She could feel herself healing. They had a job to do and it just so happen to be her. Cody forced her breaths to steady, though it took hours. There were thing she could and could not remember. Her vision blurred with uncontrolled tears she didn’t even know she was shedding. The pain dulled slow enough for her to move herself the best she could the last thing she could remember was the soft green eyes that were happy to see her.

Her body jolted awake. Her bones and her skin ached harshly.

“The baby wasn’t harmed.”

She turned her head to Loki as he sat in the bed next to her. Her head felt groggy as she smiled to him. It felt good to feel his hand in hers. She couldn’t find it in herself to be mad.

“He found… me but it’s okay. It’s all okay now.”

“He almost killed you.”

“I was there, Loki. I saw him go over the edge. He’s not gonna hurt us anymore…”

She had never felt so weak in her life as she pulled his hand to her lips for a weak kiss. Loki didn’t know what any of the machine where that she was hooked up to but as long as he helped her, he wouldn’t step in the way.

“I don’t know what she did,” said Steve after enough time had passed in silence, “but I think Thanos is finally gone.”

“I wouldn’t bet anything on a celestial being, Captain.”

His pale hand smoothed back the white hair that blended into the pillow. He made sure he would remember the tube snaked under her nose to help her breathe and the bandages that hid the bruises and the cuts that would be healed in a matter of hours. His magic made sure of it. Whatever he had done to her with the Chitauri metal, it was adapting wonderfully to her anatomy but it was nothing for himself to be pleased about. In exchange of him staying by her side for the night, he told them everything about Thanos and the dangers around him.

“You didn’t see it, Loki. She,” he wasn’t sure what he had seen, “she made sure he stayed down.”

He wouldn’t have been surprised from the story Steve had told him. He kept his tongue to himself and the rest of the night drifted. Steve had moved his chair to the outside of the room to give Loki and Cody the privacy they deserved. His heart broke as he kept his feelings for Cody to himself. Loki moved as carefully into her bed as he could manage. He wrapped his arm around her and didn’t dare let go. His hand wandered to her stomach out of habit to feel the baby.

There was a stark of energy that made him worry but a glowing bond to his hand made him cry. He held the both of them close and didn’t fall asleep so that he would take in as much of them as he could before their time was cut off. Loki pressed his lips to Cody’s head as she slept.

“Thank you for fighting, my love. I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost either of you.”


End file.
